1976 Coventry North West by-election in this by-election, a development that former leader Jo Grimond blamed in part on scandals surrounding incumbent Jeremy Thorpe's homosexuality. Grimond suggested that the result and the allegations meant that Thorpe "must think of stepping down". Thorpe stood down as Liberal leader two months later. 1976 Coventry North West by-election The Coventry North West by-election, in Coventry on 4 March 1976, was held after the death of Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Edelman. A safe Labour seat, it was won by Geoffrey Robinson, who retained the seat in 1979. The by-election represented the first outing for the National Party;
Jeremy Thorpe from being neither Conservative or Labour, the Liberals lacked a distinctive identity and their policies were largely unknown to the public. A further problem for the party was the divergence between its activists, who were radicals well to the left of the official party, and a large section of its recent supporters who were disgruntled Conservatives. Thorpe, whose personal majority in North Devon had fallen to under 7,000 in October, confided to an associate that, unless the party were soon to make a significant impact, his days as leader might be numbered. In the months following the election the danger