David Steel MP, he was responsible for introducing, as a Private Member's Bill, the Abortion Act 1967, and has argued for greater liberalisation of this legislation in recent years (see Abortion in the United Kingdom). He also became the Liberal Party's spokesman on employment, and in 1970 its Chief Whip. In 1976, after the downfall of Jeremy Thorpe, and a short period in which Jo Grimond acted as caretaker leader, he won the Liberal leadership by a wide margin over John Pardoe. At only 38 years old, he was one of the youngest party leaders in British history. In March 1977, he
Jeremy Thorpe plenty of cliffhangers, especially once the trial begins". A British three-part television series, also titled ""A Very English Scandal", based on Preston's novel, aired on the BBC in May 2018, directed by Stephen Frears, with actor Hugh Grant starring as Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott. The first episode drew a viewership of 4.6 million. Following the final installment of "A Very English Scandal", the BBC aired a documentary called "The Jeremy Thorpe Scandal", created in 1979 by BBC Panorama journalist Tom Mangold, which had been planned for release after the anticipated conviction of Thorpe, but which was then