Constituency : Devon North 1959-79
The 1959 election was another disappointment for the Liberals. They put up twice as many candidates and accordingly doubled their vote but remained stuck on just six seats.
Jeremy provided the Liberals with their greatest reason to cheer by taking Devon North from the Tories at the second attempt with a majority of 362.
Jeremy was the son of a former Conservative MP. His mother was also the offspring of a Tory MP. His mother was a friend of Megan Lloyd-George who became his godmother. His education was interrupted by the war as he was evacuated to New England. He then started at Eton in 1943. He went on to Oxford where he was more interested in building up social and political connections. He soon became president of the Liberal Club and in 1950, president of the Union itself. In 1950 and 1951 he worked for Dingle Foot in his efforts to be elected for Cornwall North. He joined the Radical Reform Group in the party. In 1955 he managed to leap above Labour into second place. While building his reputation in the seat he worked briefly as a barrister and then a television journalist working for ITV. He turned down a promotion to continue his political career. He worked hard to get Mark Bonham-Carter elected in the Torrington by-election. Despite his growing celebrity Jeremy was leading a risky double life with homosexual liaisons.
Jeremy made his mark as a parliamentarian not afraid to back unpopular causes such as immigration, Europe and the abolition of capital punishment. He balanced this with a keen wit notably in his pithy comment about McMillan, "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends".
Jeremy helped develop the strategy of concentrating on target seats and winning by-elections. He increased his majority to nearly 5,000 votes in 1964. He was now seen as Grimond's most likely successor and in 1965 became party treasurer. He toured Africa and warned Wilson about Rhodesia's secession. He called for the country's rail link to be bombed. In 1966 he saw some fruits from the winnable seats strategy though his own majority dropped sharply.
In 1967 Jeremy became party leader , defeating Eric Lubbock and Emlyn Hooson in an election restricted to the party's twelve MPs. Despite his own radical credentials , he had difficulty restraining the far left Young Liberals when the party needed to tack to the right. He married his first wife in 1968.
The 1970 election was another disaster as the Liberals were reduced to just 6 seats and Jertemy himself narrowly escaped defeat. His position was under threat but his wife's death in a car crash took the political pressure off. He helped ensure the passage of the European Community Bill and by-elections started going his way.
Jeremy's greatest triumph was the February 1974 election achieving the highest ever Liberal vote and the biggest share since 1929 but the electoral system restricted the Liberals to just 14 seats. The lack of a clear winner saw him invited to talks with Ted Heath. He was offered a Cabinet seat but could not secure concessions on electoral reform. Therefore Wilson became Prime Minister once more. In the October 1974 election, the Liberals slipped back a bit losing one of their seats.
Jeremy had other concerns. He had long been subject to threats and blackmail attempts from a young man named Norman Scott who claimed that he and Jeremy had a homosexual relationship in the early sixties. Jeremy and his friend Peter Bessell had been using party funds to keep him quiet for years without much success. Scott secured a party enquiry in 1971 after approaching Emlyn Hooson but his behaviour torpedoed his chances of being taken seriously.
No one can be sure exactly what transpired next. Bessell claimed much later that Jeremy had discussed having Scott killed with him in the sixties. What is undeniable is that Jeremy gave money donated by a millionaire to his friend David Holmes. Through a couple of intermediaries , Holmes hired an airline pilot Andrew Newton for some purpose relating to Scott. The affair unravelled when Newton shot Scott's dog. He was quickly arrested but did not finger Jeremy or anyone else at that point. The press however were now on the case and he had to deny any relationship with Scott.He was then forced to publish letters which pointed to the contrary and he was obliged to resign in May 1976. The new leader David Steel made him spokesman on foreign affairs and he was instrumental in helping constructy the Lib-Lab pact.
In October 1977 Newton was released from prison and sold his story to the press. The police got involved and in August 1978 he was charged with conspiracy to muder alongside Holmes and his friends. He was released on bail and made an embarrassing appearance at the Liberal party assembly in September. He managed to postpone the trial until after the 1979 election in which he lost his sear by 8,000 votes.
Jeremy did not give evidence at the trial, relying on the advice of his barrister George Carman that the weakness of the prosecution witnesses Scott , Newton and Bessell would see him through. That proved to be correct and all the defendants were acquitted.
Jeremy was free but had no hope of resurrecting his political career and retired into private life with his second wife Marion who stood by him throughout the scandal. In 1985 he made public his diagnosis with Parkinson's Disease and appeared little in public thereafter though the couple remained supportive of the local Liberal association.
Although Jeremy's wit and charm undoubtedly helped to further the Liberal revival begun under Grmond, he has also been criticised as a shallow thinker who failed to develop a coherent strategic direction for the party.
He died in 2014 aged 85.
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