Thorpe affair insurance card prevented him from claiming benefits. By this time, Thorpe had succeeded Jo Grimond as leader of the Liberal Party. To resolve Scott's immediate problems, and to prevent a resumption of his tirades against the new party leader, Bessell began paying him a "retainer" of between £5 and £10 a week, ostensibly in lieu of lost national insurance benefits. Bessell also arranged Scott's new passport, but by this time Scott had abandoned his American plans and wished to establish a career as a model. He asked Bessell for £200 to set him up; Bessell refused, but in May 1968
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