Jeremy Thorpe, the former leader of the Liberal Party, has called for the assassination of Robert Mugabe. Speaking to the Journal of Liberal History, he was asked his views on the Zimbabwean leader. Thorpe, now 79, began tamely enough, saying: "I think he is a ghastly, wicked man", but when asked how he should be dealt with, he hardened his line: "He should be assassinated."Of course, Thorpe knows a little of this sort of thing. In 1979, he was put on trial for conspiring to murder Norman Scott, a male model who claimed to be his lover. Although he was acquitted, he had to defend claims that he had incited David Holmes, the then deputy Treasurer of the Liberal Party, to have Scott bumped off, using a retired airline pilot as a hitman.
These days Thorpe lives a quiet life, having developed Parkinson's disease. However, he retains an acute interest in politics. Asked about the new Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, he said he was "doing well". Charles Kennedy, he believes, was "treated very badly". "Drunkenness," he said, "is not a permanent disability. It can be treated".