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Books

Jeremy Thorpe gets off Scott-free

John Preston revisits the dog days of British politics when Rinka, compromising letters and conspiracy to murder were the daily headlines

14 May 2016

9:00 AM

14 May 2016

9:00 AM

A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment John Preston

Viking, pp.340, £16.99, ISBN: 9780241215722

Appropriately for the dog days of British politics, there’s plenty of canine activity in this neatly groomed account of the bizarre circumstances behind the murder plot which cost the Liberal party leader Jeremy Thorpe his job and his debonair reputation in the 1970s.

First yelps from the kennel came from the Honourable Brecht Van de Vater’s five springer spaniels.

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Available from the Spectator Bookshop, £13.99. Tel: 08430 600033. Andrew Lycett has written biographies of Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming, Rudyard Kipling and Dylan Thomas.

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