High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John Jeremy Thorpe (born 29 April 1929) is a British former politician who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1967 to 1976 and Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon from 1959 to 1979. His political career was damaged when an acquaintance, Norman Scott, claimed to have had a love affair with Thorpe at a time when homosexual acts were illegal in Britain. Thorpe denied these claims and was charged with conspiring to murder Scott, though he was acquitted of these charges in 1979, shortly after losing his seat in the general election.