Lib Dems unite to say farewell to leader ruined by sex scandal
UNITED i n mourning, t he current and former leaders of the scandal-ravaged Lib Dems came together yesterday at the funeral of Jeremy Thorpe.
Nick Clegg and his predecessors Lord Ashdown, Lord Steel, Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell watched as the disgraced former Liberal leader’s Union Flag-draped coffin was carried out of the church – with his trademark trilby sitting on top.
Controversial Lib Dem peer Lord Rennard also attended with his wife, who was making a rare appearance after keeping a low profile while he faced accusations of molesting women.
Mr Thorpe led the Liberal Party for nine years from 1967 until he was sensationally brought down following a sex scandal in which he was accused of plotting to murder former male model Norman Scott, who claimed to have had a gay affair with him.
The twice-married politician, who died aged 85 earlier this month after suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, was acquitted at the Old Bailey in 1979 but lost his seat as an MP shortly before the trial began.
Mr Thorpe was Liberal leader when Cyril Smith was first elected the party’s MP for Rochdale. After Smith’s death, numerous allegations that he was a serial child sex abuser emerged.
Delivering a tribute to Mr Thorpe at St Margaret’s Church in Westminster, former Lib Dem minister Sir Nick Harvey, who now represents Mr Thorpe’s old North Devon constituency, praised his ‘wit, zeal and sheer panache’. Friend and colleague Steven Atack told the congregation that the party – which merged with the SDP to form the Lib Dems in 1987 – had ‘never found it in its heart’ to re- embrace Mr Thorpe after his downfall.
‘It would have meant a great deal to him that his successors as Liberal leaders are here today,’ he added. Lord Rennard’s wife Ann McTegart looked pensive as they joined mourners. At 65, the former nursery school teacher is 11 years older than her husband, to whom she has been married for 25 years. Lord Renard, Lib Dem chief executive between 2003 and 2009, was suspended earlier this year after a series of women accused him of making sexual advances. He denied the allegations, but issued an apology for encroaching on some of the women’s ‘ personal space’. In August the suspension was controversially lifted, although he was told he would have no role in next year’s election campaign. Last month, Lord Rennard questioned whether Mr Clegg is still leading a ‘major party’ following his by-election humiliation i n Rochester, where the Lib Dems came fifth with less than 1 per cent of the vote.
The barbed accusation was seen as revenge on the Deputy Prime Minister for not allowing him back into the heart of the party. Lord Steel, 76, became leader in 1976 and was succeeded in 1988 by Lord Ashdown, 73. He stood down in 1999 and retired from the commons in 2001.
Mr Kennedy, 55, led the party from 1999 until 2006 and Sir Menzies, 73, was the l eader until the following year, when Mr Clegg took over.