The trial of leading Liberal Jeremy Thorpe for soliciting the murder of his one-time homosexual lover Norman Scott was one of the biggest scandals ever in UK politics. Although not strictly speaking a political conspiracy, it had the obvious intention of protecting Thorpe and thereby his career from the man the trial judge rightly described as a crook, a fraud and a sponger. Scott was certainly a blackmailer, and at a time when consenting sexual acts between men were illegal, his allegations would have been the kiss of death for any man seeking even low political office.
Although much is made today of his depraved sexual antics, it is easily forgotten that Thorpe married twice, siring a son by his first wife who was killed tragically in a car crash. Lord Alfred Douglas, the catamite of Oscar Wilde, also married and sired a son after their relationship ended, and condemned homosexuality. Thorpe was no Lord Alfred Douglas, though he was no Oscar Wilde either, but although not as indiscreet as Wilde, he was extremely careless.
This documentary speaks to almost all the major players in the conspiracy; Peter Bessell died in 1985, but his son is interviewed; John Le Measurier (not to be confused with the actor of the same name); Jack Hayward, the man who unwittingly financed the plot; and failed hit man Andrew Newton, all face the camera.
We hear too from Thorpe's contemporaries; how ironic it is that he should be branded a Jekyll and Hyde figure by Cyril Smith in view of the allegations that have since surfaced about him! On the whole this is an excellent documentary for those who are too young to remember the events in question. Yes, the establishment did go the extra mile to protect Thorpe, but why should a man's career be destroyed over past indiscretions that involved consensual perversion when he had since put that behind him? And over a pathetic wretch like Norman Scott?