Scandal-plagued politician in Britain

LONDON — Jeremy Thorpe, an influential British politician who helped revive the Liberal Party before his career was cut short by scandal, died Thursday. He was 85.

Thorpe’s death was announced by his son, Rupert, and was mourned by current party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and other party stalwarts.

Thorpe had largely stayed out of the public eye since he was cleared of serious criminal charges in 1979. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years.

Widely admired as a speaker and organizer, Thorpe had enjoyed a successful career that was interrupted by scandal after he was accused of conspiracy and incitement to kill former male model Norman Scott.

Thorpe was leader of Britain’s venerable third political party from 1967-76, when he stepped down from that post after allegations by Scott that they had had a gay relationship in the early 1960s, when homosexuality was still a criminal offense in Britain.

Thorpe repeatedly denied Scott’s allegations, first made in the early 1970s.

In 1976, Scott made the allegations public in a magistrate’s court in the case of a man — Andrew Newton — accused of shooting Scott’s dog.

In 1977, when Newton was released from jail for illegal possession of a firearm and intent to endanger life, he said he had been hired to kill Scott and implicated Thorpe and three other men in the plot.

Police investigated and arrested Thorpe, who was still a member of Parliament. After a trial during which Scott testified, a jury acquitted Thorpe and the three others, but Thorpe’s career was finished.