Jeremy Thorpe after discovery by the "Daily Mail". Bessell gave muddled accounts of his involvement with Scott, but insisted that his former chief was innocent of any wrongdoing. On 16 March 1976 Newton's trial began at Exeter Crown Court, where Scott repeated his allegations against Thorpe despite the efforts of the prosecution's lawyers to silence him. Newton was found guilty and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, but did not incriminate Thorpe. The erosion of public support for the Liberal Party continued with several poor by-election results in March, which the former leader Grimond attributed to increasing lack of confidence in Thorpe. On
British Columbia Liberal Party and provincial counterparts in 1987. After the 1991 provincial election, the BC Liberals displaced the British Columbia Social Credit Party as the province's centre-right conservative party opposed to the centre-left British Columbia New Democratic Party. According to polls, BC Liberal supporters predominantly vote Liberal and Conservative in federal elections. The party commonly describes itself as a "free enterprise coalition". The divided Conservatives faced the Liberals in the election of 1916 and lost. The Liberals formed a government under Harlan Carey Brewster. Brewster had become leader of the opposition, and was elected party leader in March 1912. He lost his seat