A Very English Scandal #1.3

Jeremy Thorpe: But evidence goes missing all the time! Policemen lie. Why can't this stuff just disappear? Why is everyone suddenly so bloody honest?

Jeremy Thorpe: Technically he was Bunny, singular.
Marion Thorpe: Then why did you say "Bunnies"? Were there two of you? Are you a Bunny? Am I married to a Bunny?
Jeremy Thorpe: No, I was using a generic noun in an imperative clause.
Marion Thorpe: Well, thank God it's grammatically correct, because the whole country's reading this! Bunnies!

Jeremy Thorpe: I have resigned as leader of the Liberal Party. One word. One bloody word brought me down.
Marion Thorpe: No, it wasn't Bunnies. It's because you lied...

Marion Thorpe: Jeremy, I'm not a fool. I practically grew up with Benjamin Britten. I've seen something of the world. I fled from Hitler, for God's sake. My own son married a hippie in a yurt, and I've toured with orchestras. I couldn't begin to tell you the things I've seen, so there's no need to protect me.

Minehead Magistrate: How do you plead, Mr Thorpe?
Jeremy Thorpe: I will vigorously defend these charges and plead not guilty.

George Carman: I have friends in high places. Even better friends in low places.

George Carman: I want to say, congratulations.
Jeremy Thorpe: What for?
George Carman: These are the greatest charges ever levelled against a Member of Parliament, and considering the House of Commons has had 270 years of bastards, liars, perverts, thieves, blackmailers, inbreds and arsonists, that really is quite an achievement.

George Carman: Peter Bessell, a good friend of yours. How do you want me to handle it?
Jeremy Thorpe: He's a Judas...

Norman Josiffe: These men, they went to Eton and Harrow and Oxford. I went to a secondary modern in Bexleyheath. They're going to destroy me!

George Carman: You could have warned me that Norman Scott is so fucking clever!

Norman Josiffe: All I wanted was... my National Insurance card.

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Norman Josiffe: I don't care about the money, but I do care how men like me are shoved into corners and masturbated in the dark and then thrown out the door like we're dirt, like we're nothing, like we don't exist! And all the history books get written with men like me missing. So, yes, I will talk, I will be heard and I will be seen, Your Honour! You can pay me or not pay me, I don't care, but the one thing you will not do is shut me up!

Norman Josiffe: I was rude, I was vile, I was queer, I was myself.

George Carman: This is the story of a liar meeting a fantasist... but I'm not sure which one's which.

Jeremy Thorpe: Yes, I think that people will take my word rather than his, yes.
George Carman: But the jury have just seen him in all his glory, an open homosexual, the new world blazing. In contrast, you might seem a little... old...

Jeremy Thorpe: Are we running in fear from Norman Scott? Are we?

George Carman: Consider the balance of the scales of justice above us. If you don't take the stand, you could look like a liar. If you do take the stand... you could look like a liar.
Jeremy Thorpe: So, which is it to be?

Edna Friendship: Ugh, it's the establishment, same as ever. This whole thing has been a stitch-up, right from the start.

George Carman: Old fool... This thing should be won by me, not the judge.

George Carman: That's the law, I'm afraid. The jury retires and bail is withdrawn until the verdict is reached.

George Carman: ...but I still keep wondering something else. Why Norman?

Jeremy Thorpe: Well, I would imagine... I can only speculate, but... if you do know those men, George... then you know those nights... and you know how those nights can end. .... Given those men... maybe, I suppose, one could imagine... that Norman Scott was the best.

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A Very English Scandal #1.2

Jeremy Thorpe: I regard it as immoral. This country is continuing to supply arms to Nigeria while no food has been able to reach these people since the 10th of June. And who takes advantage of the situation? Soviet Russia. The Russians have been growing in strength within Nigeria with every passing day and the world should see this. The world should know!

Jeremy Thorpe: ...Of course, the real question is where to dispose of the body. In New York, they drop corpses in the river...

Norman Josiffe: I love you!
Susan: Do you know what you sound like when you say that? You sound queer.

Peter Bessell: ...leaving me half a million in debt, and since you're not allowed to be an MP and a bankrupt, off I pop. I swear, a man is not allowed to lose his money these days without everybody making a fuss.

Jeremy Thorpe: Well, who knows where time and tide will take us... I'll see you again, old friend.
Peter Bessell: I hope so...

Jeremy Thorpe: I wish you a safe journey, Peter, and I wish you a happy life. And then... I wish Norman Scott to be killed.

Gwen Parry-Jones: Norman. Norman. The nights... are very... very long.

Gwen Parry-Jones: Don't be silly. My husband was in the army. But Jeremy Thorpe, for God's sake! He's the leader of the party!... Norman, you've struck lucky.

Norman Josiffe: ...And in the end, I never did get my National Insurance card.

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Norman Josiffe: ....I loved him and I still love him, even though that's ridiculous. And he loved me. So you can write down this... I wasn't his prostitute or a one-night stand or a quick little fuck in the dark. I was Jeremy Thorpe's lover.

Reggie Maudling: There's only one reason anyone asks to see me, hugger-mugger. Have you been an idiot?

Reggie Maudling: We can all bear a little scandal. My own mother disowned me when I married an actress, and I survived. ...
Jeremy Thorpe: See, I think it's different when the lies are homosexual in nature, because I think stories like that reflect badly on the whole of Parliament.

Reggie Maudling: Is it true? What Scott says?
Jeremy Thorpe: No.
Reggie Maudling: Consider it done.
Jeremy Thorpe: Thank you.
Reggie Maudling: Consider it done, and no more.

Jeremy Thorpe: Danny, it's a game. It's a very, very long game and I'm playing it well.

Norman Josiffe: It's just... people are so lovely to me wherever I go, and I never know why.

Andrew Newton: I'll contact you as soon as the man from Canada arrives.
Norman Josiffe: Was he the man you wanted me to meet or is he the man who's going to kill me?
Andrew Newton: It's complicated.

Norman Josiffe: Jeremy Thorpe. Jeremy Thorpe did this. It was Jeremy Thorpe!

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A Very English Scandal #1.1

Peter Bessell: Call it a hobby. Some people play golf, I like screwing.

Jeremy Thorpe: What would you say you are, vis-a-vis men and women? What are you? 50-50?
Peter Bessell: More like 80-20. I mean, 80% for the ladies.
Jeremy Thorpe: Yeah. Yes, I call myself 80%, but... 80%... gay.
Peter Bessell: Gosh, I'm not sure that word's ever been said within these walls before. Not in that context. My wife insists that gay means happy.
Jeremy Thorpe: I think she's absolutely right. And I intend to be very happy, very many times in my life.

Jeremy Thorpe: Peter, we are nothing but a pair of old queens. To... Her Majesty.
Peter Bessell: Her Majesty.

Jeremy Thorpe: It is my duty to inform the Prime Minister that if he continues to restrict immigration, he is staunching the lifeblood of this country... And, and fuelling the rise of the "Keep Britain White" campaign. Citizens from all over the Commonwealth deserve a free and safe right of entry, or else the Government may find that its White Paper is very aptly named.

Peter Bessell: What does he want? Money?
Jeremy Thorpe: The vast sum of £30. He can't even blackmail properly.

Jeremy Thorpe: Now I'm going to kiss you, and you will enjoy it...

Jeremy Thorpe: Now, we are going to need this, just in case... And a good little helping of every bachelor's friend... Just hop onto all fours, there's a good chap. That always works best, don't you think?
Norman Josiffe: On the bed?
Jeremy Thorpe: Yes, on the bed.

Jeremy Thorpe: And remember... mother's room.

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Jeremy Thorpe: This country's application to join the Common Market represents a huge opportunity, for growth and investment, and not just for the bankers and businessmen in London, they have lined their pockets enough, but for my constituents in North Devon, and for all the good and honest workers across the land, Europe represents a bold new horizon, an undertaking from which we may profit and learn, and enrich our lives for generations to come.

Norman Josiffe: Technically, he was my employer, because he paid for everything, so he's got to do it. If I don't have a National Insurance card, I can't work, I don't get benefits, I don't exist!

Lord Kilmuir: I will refuse to sit in any Cabinet meeting where this filthy subject is even being discussed. We would be licensing buggers' clubs. I have no desire to go down in history as the man responsible for legalising sodomy in Britain!

Boofy: What puzzles me is that the heterosexual man is so relentless in his attack.
Countess Arran: We've had some dreadful letters, full of bile, quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus. No-one ever mentions the Sermon on the Mount.
Boofy: I had shit sent to me. A parcel of shit. Shit in the post! Human shit! My secretary thought it was pate. She said, "I threw it away, Lord Arran, it wouldn't keep."

Peter Bessell: It's astonishing to think, if Leo Abse wins, there will be freedom.
Jeremy Thorpe: Those men will be free to be pitied, that's all. I don't care what change they make to the law, if anything about me ever became public... I give you my word, Peter, I would put a gun to my head and blow my brains out.

Jeremy Thorpe: I swear on my grandfather's sword... that I shall lead... a Liberal crusade!

Jeremy Thorpe: Pedro, I've come to a very important conclusion. If I'm to get any further, I had better get married.
Peter Bessell: Really? Who do you have in mind, the Queen Mother?

Norman Josiffe: ...Because he was my employer. He was my employer and my lover.

Caroline: It's disgusting.

Jeremy Thorpe: I really don't care. I don't care if we shoot him or we strangle him or we poison him or we bludgeon him or we tie him up in a sack and drop in the Thames, there is only one way for us to survive, Norman Scott has got to die. So, how?

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