Jeremy Thorpe and his downfall: The 1970s gay sex sndal that volved attempted murr, a ad dog and the Liberal Party lear | The Inpennt | The Inpennt

Contents:

• THE TE STORY OF ‘A VERY ENGLISH SNDAL’ AND THE TRIALS OF A CLOSETED GAY POLICIAN
• DID JEREMY THORPE HAVE A GAY LOVER THROWN TO HIS ATH OM A YACHT?
• JEREMY THORPE AND HIS DOWNFALL: THE 1970S GAY SEX SNDAL THAT VOLVED ATTEMPTED MURR, A AD DOG AND THE LIBERAL PARTY LEAR
• JEREMY THORPE’S GAY EX-LOVER NORMAN STT FACE-TO-FACE WH WOULD-BE ASSASS FOR FIRST TIME
• FURY OF JEREMY THORPE'S GAY LOVER AS TV DRAMA TURNS HIS ORAL TO 'A EDY'

THE TE STORY OF ‘A VERY ENGLISH SNDAL’ AND THE TRIALS OF A CLOSETED GAY POLICIAN

To be gay Bra durg that era meant puttg onelf nstant danger of arrt. “It was a very opprsive climate right up to and cludg the Margaret Thatcher years, ” says polil scientist David Raysi, the thor of On the Frge: Gays and Lbians Polics. “In the 1970s and 80s, the overwhelmg majory Bra thought homosexual activy was morally wrong.

Like many untri, Bra had a long history of anti-gay discrimatn. Even then, was followed by dranian measur to prevent gay relatnships, cludg the Crimal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which ma “gross cency” between men—a purposely vague term—a crimal act. The panic over homosexualy ntued after World War II, wr historian Michael Bloch Closet Queens: Some 20th Century Brish Policians: “A fiercely homophobic Home Secretary, Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, aid by an equally puranil Director of Public Prosecutns, Sir Theobold Matthew, was termed to ‘rid England of this plague.

That report remend public statut should avoid legislatg moraly, and that the ernment should remove nsensual homosexual liaisons om crimal law.

DID JEREMY THORPE HAVE A GAY LOVER THROWN TO HIS ATH OM A YACHT?

The 1967 Sexual Offens Act crimalized homosexual acts between nsentg adults private, though didn’t remove the stigma attendant on such acts.

In some ways, gay dividuals were jt as vulnerable as before.

“The police were still entirely willg to heavily police those venu where was thought that homosexual activy occurred.

JEREMY THORPE AND HIS DOWNFALL: THE 1970S GAY SEX SNDAL THAT VOLVED ATTEMPTED MURR, A AD DOG AND THE LIBERAL PARTY LEAR

That’s not to say all policians fought actively agast gay rights.

But the two domant parti of the era, the Labour and Conservative parti, were nowhere near as terted aligng themselv wh the gay rights movement.

“Labour as a whole was very unfortable associatg self wh what ntued to terpret as a bourgeois and dangero issue, ” wr historian Lucy Robson Gay Men and the Left Post-War Bra. Those class tensns were a major ponent of the homosexualy issue Bra.

JEREMY THORPE’S GAY EX-LOVER NORMAN STT FACE-TO-FACE WH WOULD-BE ASSASS FOR FIRST TIME

” In one episo, Lord Grantham exc the homosexual behavr of his footman, Thomas, sayg such cints happened regular when Lord Grantham attend Eton, a private school.

FURY OF JEREMY THORPE'S GAY LOVER AS TV DRAMA TURNS HIS ORAL TO 'A EDY'

Regardls of how historilly accurate the earl’s reactn to his servant’s behavr was, is te that gay experimentatn flourished upper-class, sex-segregated is like boardg school, the ary, and the clergy. His exposure slowed the progrs of the LGBTQ movement; wasn’t until 1984 that Brish polician Chris Smh beme the first to e out as gay. Gay Rights,.

Although he was not one of those at Eton who had a reputatn for homosexual pas, he veloped the ual csh on schoolfellows, and gave his iends to unrstand that the sometim went beyond the purely was one cint, notor among those who got to hear of , when he tried to force his attentns on a younger boy the hoe boy (Michael Haslam, elr brother of the future signer Nicky Haslam) ped, but Thorpe ed astonishment by subsequently tellg every boy the hoe (most of whom as yet knew nothg of the episo): ‘I know what they’re sayg about me — and ’s not te! ’It was a technique of stout nial which he would employ throughout his nials were never more vehement than the se of Norman Stt, who 30 years later would acce Thorpe of havg had a homosexual relatnship wh him — leadg to Thorpe’s rignatn as Liberal lear, and his subsequent trial (and acqutal) at the Old Bailey on charg of havg nspired to have Stt one exceptn, Thorpe would never be able to adm publicly to his homosexualy or talk about openly — even at the end of his life, when attus had changed and everyone knew about his sole exceptn was the admissn at his trial — slipped by his fence unsel, Gee Carman — that as a young man Thorpe had posssed ‘homosexual tennci’ ncsn was ma wh reluctance solely to prevent the prosecutn llg wns to Thorpe’s past sex life, and the jury never learnt further tails of the high-risk double life that Thorpe, seemgly a voted hband and father, had been livg sce his early, the extent of that promiscuo and hazardo double life has not been ma public until today.

One person who knew Thorpe even believed that Stt may not have been the first nvenient ex-lover whom Thorpe tried to get out of the down for vio Fascatn: After a lifetime of troubl, Thorpe's former lover Henry Upton (pictured) disappeared 1957To judge the credibily of this extraordary suggtn, we mt first look at the broar ntext of Thorpe’s Eton and Oxford, he me to live London, set on beg a barrister and polician, and drifted to the shadowy homosexual subculture of the urse, very few who knew him were aware of his secret proclivi at this time (though the future Liberal lear Jo Grimond later claimed to have duced them om his exhibnism and his close relatnship wh his mother) Thorpe, homosexualy reprented an excg and nspiratorial world.