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Jeremy Thorpe in February 1970 when he was Liberal party leader and MP for North Devon. Photograph: Getty

Jeremy Thorpe, who brought the Liberal party to the brink of coalition government in 1974 but resigned amid scandal soon after, has died aged 85. He died on Thursday morning after a long battle with Parkinsons disease, his son Rupert has announced.

From the age of 38, he led the Liberals for nine years. Between 1967 and 1976, surviving a poor performance in the 1970 general election, he turned the Liberals from a tiny party of six MPs into a small one of 11. In the 1974 general election, Thorpe played up his relative youthfulness by vaulting a security barrier wearing his trademark trilby.

The Liberals made a breakthrough, winning 19% of the vote (then a post-war record) and got 14 MPs. Although Ted Heath had not won a majority, he had won the popular vote and refused to resign. Thorpe went to Downing Street for secret coalition talks with Heath (at one point being smuggled into No 10).

The talks eventually collapsed as the Liberals couldnt stomach coalition with the Tories and feared being tainted by Heath, whom even the Spectator was calling a squatter in No 10. It was the the closest to actual government the third party had come for decades , with the failure of the talks leading to a minority Labour government led by Harold Wilson.

Two years after walking up Downing Street, Thorpe resigned as leader of the party after being accused of conspiracy to murder a former model, Norman Scott, who claimed to be a former lover. Scott had been out walking his great Dane, Rinka, and, though he survived, the animal was killed. Thorpe was acquitted on all charges in 1979, but had by then had lost his seat and his party.

Not long after the end of the trial Thorpe was found to have Parkinsons disease and retired from public life. For many years, the disease has been at an advanced stage. However, in 1997 he visited the Liberal Democrat party conference and was given a standing ovation by party members, and he attended the funeral of Roy Jenkins in 2003.

In 1999, Thorpe published his memoirs, In My Own Time, in which he described key episodes in his political life. He did not, however, shed any further light on the Norman Scott affair.

If it happened now I think ... the public would be kinder. Back then they were very troubled by it, he told the Guardian in 2008. It offended their set of values.

Harold Wilson thought the allegations a Conservative smear, asking in a memo to one of his ministers, Barbara Castle, why damaging details surfaced later in the 1970s at a time when Labour might want to go into coalition with the Liberals, rather than earlier when Heath wanted them.

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Jeremy Thorpe, former Liberal party leader, dies aged 85

The Liberals and the Tories are statistically tied as Canada heads into an election year, a new Ipsos Reid poll suggests.

If Canadians went to the polls now, 34% would vote for Justin Trudeau's Liberals, while 33% would support Stephen Harper's Conservatives, according to the poll.

The NDP, under Thomas Mulcair, registered at 24% with surveyed voters.

Mario Beaulieu's Bloc would receive 5% of the vote nationally (21% in Quebec) and other parties, including the Green Party under Elizabeth May, would get 4%.

Those percentages are broken down from decided voters.

Of all voters surveyed, 15% said they were still undecided.

Tracking the data over the last three weeks suggests that either the Conservatives or Liberals could jump out in front, Ipsos Reid said.

The poll, conducted for Global News, surveyed 8,268 Canadians in November.

Ipsos Reid estimates it to be accurate to within 1.2%, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been surveyed.

The federal election is expected no later than next fall.

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Liberals and Tories neck and neck in new federal poll

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As the government desperately searches for a budget success to end the year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott continues to slide in the polls.

As soon as one election is over, we start turning our attention to the next and that will be Prime Minister Tony Abbott's appointment with the voters, due some time around September 2016.

If the opinion polls were consistently bad for the Napthine government leading up to its defeat, they are even worse for the Abbott government. The Australian tells us Newspoll last weekend found it trailing 45-55 in the two-party preferred vote an 8.5 per cent national swing since its election 15 months ago. Opinion polls are not elections, as the Howard government proved in 2001 and 2004. But between elections, they're the best guide we've got. The question is inevitable: could the Abbott government too end up as a one-term government the first at national level since the Great Depression?

By the way, it might not be the next one-termer. In 2012 Queensland Premier Campbell Newman won such a huge majority that Labor was left with just seven seats. But three polls in the past week show his government just ahead, just behind and level pegging with Labor. The election is due in March.

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From Christopher Pyne to Glenn Lazarus

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Parliament leaks... No, really.

'Little bro' you have taught me so much'

Forever Young: a celebration of Phillip Hughes

As the government desperately searches for a budget success to end the year, Prime Minister Tony Abbott continues to slide in the polls.

As soon as one election is over, we start turning our attention to the next and that will be Prime Minister Tony Abbott's appointment with the voters, due some time around September 2016.

If the opinion polls were consistently bad for the Napthine government leading up to its defeat, they are even worse for the Abbott government. The Australian tells us Newspoll last weekend found it trailing 45-55 in the two-party preferred vote an 8.5 per cent national swing since its election 15 months ago. Opinion polls are not elections, as the Howard government proved in 2001 and 2004. But between elections, they're the best guide we've got. The question is inevitable: could the Abbott government too end up as a one-term government the first at national level since the Great Depression?

By the way, it might not be the next one-termer. In 2012 Queensland Premier Campbell Newman won such a huge majority that Labor was left with just seven seats. But three polls in the past week show his government just ahead, just behind and level pegging with Labor. The election is due in March.

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Liberals have reason to be scared