The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal (2018 TV Movie)

Peter Bessell: Self - Liberal MP, 1964-1970

Quotes 

• [Andrew Newton has been jailed for shooting Norman Scott's dog, but the attempt to murder Scott is still secret] 

  Tom Mangold : By several strokes of good fortune, Thorpe's attempts to have Scott murdered had remained covered up. So, as a bonus, had details of his affair with Norman Scott. It might have stayed like that, but for one totally unplanned and unexpected development. Out in California, Peter Bessell, the loyal retainer and troubleshooter for thirteen years, finally decided enough was enough. Bessell knew it was now time to tell all.

  Peter Bessell : The most difficult decision I've ever had to make in my life was the fact that all that I knew was because Jeremy trusted me. In other words, I had not picked up my information by hearsay or third parties - it was direct knowledge given to me on the basis that he trusted me totally. So that made it a very hard decision. But we moved from an area of private cover-up of somebody's private life into an area where it was now a cover-up of an attempt at murder. There's a point at which all of us stop, and that was the point at which I stopped. It was a very rough decision to make, but it was one I *had* to make.

• [introduction] 

  Tom Mangold : The programme you're about to see has remained secret almost forty years. It was made here at the old BBC Television Centre but not broadcast. The master copy was put under lock and key. Other copies were ordered to be destroyed by the then Director General, but I as the reporter didn't follow those instructions. I kept a copy and hoped there would come a day when viewers would see it. Tonight, finally, we've reached that point. And here's the story. In 1979, Panorama and BBC Television News spent months investigating the background to the sensational trial of former Liberal leader, Jeremy Thorpe, for a special programme. Thorpe, along with three others, was accused of conspiring to murder his former gay lover Norman Scott, also known as Norman Josiffe.

  Norman Scott : [archive voiceover]  He levelled it at me and then came back, and I suddenly realised that he *was* going to shoot me as well.

  Tom Mangold : We believed that a guilty verdict against Thorpe was a certainty, but when the resounding verdicts of not guilty against all the defendants were returned, the programme was halted on legal grounds.

  Tom Mangold : [archive interview]  Does it occur to you now that you and the Home Secretary of the day were sitting down and conspiring to pervert the course of justice?

  Peter Bessell : [archive interview]  *At the time* it occurred to me, never mind today.

  Tom Mangold : Today there's a strong and widespread view that the Thorpe verdict was a miscarriage of justice, and we're now broadcasting an edited version of the programme. I've waited forty years to tell you the real Jeremy Thorpe story. Tonight's the night - at last.

• [talking about being asked to suppress the file into the police enquiries about Thorpe's homosexuality] 

  Peter Bessell : What I was asking was that a privilege should be extended to a Member of Parliament that would not be extended to an ordinary citizen.