Letter: The fate of Jeremy Thorpe

Sir: In her obituary of Henrik van den Bergh, the Apartheid-state's police chief (21 August), Mary Braid writes: "He is believed to have been behind the downfall of the British Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe."

That belief can persist only amongst extreme conspiracy theorists. Extensive police investigation leading to a well-publicised trial, along with the much more limited Liberal Party inquiry into one aspect of the affair which I chaired, all pointed to actions by Jeremy Thorpe which led to his downfall, whilst exonerating him of the wilder accusations.

There remains, however, no doubt that Jeremy Thorpe's courage and foresight in campaigning against apartheid in the Sixties when both Labour and Conservative front benches were unwilling to face up to what was happening in Southern Africa, must have annoyed van den Bergh's masters.

MICHAEL STEED

Hon Lecturer in Politics and International Relations

University of Kent at Canterbury

The writer was president of the Liberal Party, 1978/9