John Jeremy Thorpe (born 29 April 1929) is a British politician, who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. He lost his position, as well as his seat in Parliament, after he was accused of conspiring to murder a man who claimed to be a former lover, of which charges he was acquitted.
The son of John Henry Thorpe, a maternal grandson of Sir John Norton-Griffiths (both Conservative Members of Parliament) and a descendant of Thomas Thorp...
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John Jeremy Thorpe (born 29 April 1929) is a British politician, who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976. He lost his position, as well as his seat in Parliament, after he was accused of conspiring to murder a man who claimed to be a former lover, of which charges he was acquitted.
The son of John Henry Thorpe, a maternal grandson of Sir John Norton-Griffiths (both Conservative Members of Parliament) and a descendant of Thomas Thorpe, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1452 to 1453.
He was educated at Eton College and then at Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied Law. He was very politically and socially active at Oxford, becoming Chairman of the Liberal Club and the Law Society and finally becoming President of the Oxford Union in 1951. He was called to the bar in 1954, whilst working as a TV interviewer.
Thorpe was adopted as Liberal candidate for the Conservative-held North Devon constituency in 1952. In the 1955 General Election he managed to halve the...
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