Two new books scheduled on Jeremy Thorpe

Viking and Little, Brown are both to publish books about the former leader of the Liberal Party Jeremy Thorpe, who died yesterday (4th December).

Little, Brown will be first, releasing Jeremy Thorpe by Michael Bloch on 16th December, less than two weeks after Thorpe’s death.

The book chronicles Thorpe’s “rapid rise and spectacular fall from grace”. He became leader of the Liberal Party in 1967 at the age of 37, but his career was left in ruins after a trial on charges of conspiracy to murder in a case involving a male model, Norman Scott. Despite being acquitted, Thorpe's political career did not recover. Bloch’s “magisterial biography is not just a brilliant retelling of this amazing story; years in the making, it is also the definitive character study of one of the most fascinating figures in post-war British politics”, said Little, Brown.

Bloch is the author of several books on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as well as other works of non-fiction. Jeremy Thorpe will be published in £25 hardback on 16th December, and as an e-book.

Penguin Random House’s Viking, an imprint of Penguin General, will release Conspiracy by Telegraph journalist John Preston in early 2016.

Viking publishing director Venetia Butterfield acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, from Natasha Fairweather of United Agents.

Preston will draw on previously unseen material and years of research for his “explosive exposé”.

Butterfield said: “Gripping and profoundly shocking this book will be an immersive portrait of this extraordinary period. The full facts of this cover-up have never been publicly acknowledged. In the era of Operation Yewtree, the Thorpe affair is a staggering example of the British establishment closing ranks to save one of its own.”