June 5
[ 2007-06-07 08:00 ]
June 5, 1963: Profumo
resigns in sex scandal
 |
| Ian McKellen (John Profumo) and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer
(Christine Keeler) | On June 5, 1963, British
Secretary of War John Profumo resigns his post following revelations that he had
lied to the House of Commons about his sexual affair with Christine Keeler, an
alleged prostitute. At the time of the affair, Keeler was also involved with
Yevgeny "Eugene" Ivanov, a Soviet naval attache who some suspected was a spy.
Although Profumo assured the government that he had not compromised national
security in any way, the scandal threatened to topple Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan's government.
Age 48 in 1963, John Dennis Profumo was appointed secretary of war by
Macmillan in 1960. As war minister, he was in charge of overseeing the British
army. The post was a junior cabinet position, but Profumo looked a good
candidate for future promotion. He was married to Valerie Hobson, a retired
movie actress, and the Profumos were very much at the center of "swinging '60s"
society in the early 1960s. One night in July 1961, John Profumo was at the
Cliveden estate of Lord "Bill" Astor when he was first introduced to 19-year-old
Christine Keeler. She was frolicking naked by the Cliveden pool.
Keeler was at Cliveden as a guest of Dr. Stephen Ward, a society osteopath
and part-time portraitist who rented a cottage at the estate from his friend
Lord Astor. Keeler was working as a showgirl at a London nightclub when she
first met Dr. Ward. Ward took her under his wing, and they lived together in his
London flat but were not lovers. He encouraged her to pursue sexual
relationships with his high-class friends, and on one or more occasions Keeler
apparently accepted money in exchange for sex. Ward introduced her to his friend
Ivanov, and she began a sexual relationship with the Soviet diplomat. Several
weeks after meeting Profumo at Cliveden, she also began an affair with the war
minister. There is no evidence that either of these men paid her for sex, but
Profumo once gave Keeler some money to buy her mother a birthday present.
 |
| The british minister John Profumo with his wife,
Venice - 1963 | After an intense few months,
Profumo ended his affair with Keeler before the end of 1961. His indiscretions
might never have come to public attention were it not for an incident involving
Keeler that occurred in early 1963. Johnny Edgecombe, a West Indian marijuana
dealer, was arrested for shooting up the exterior of Ward's London flat after
Keeler, his ex-lover, refused to let him in. The press gave considerable
coverage to the incident and subsequent trial, and rumors were soon abounding
about Keeler's earlier relationship with Profumo. When Keeler confirmed reports
of her affair with Profumo, and admitted a concurrent relationship with Ivanov,
what had been cocktail-party gossip grew into a scandal with serious security
connotations.
On March 21, 1963, Colonel George Wigg, a Labour MP for Dudley, raised the
issue in the House of Commons, inviting the member of government in question to
affirm or deny the rumors of his improprieties. Wigg forced Profumo's hand, not,
he claimed, to embarrass the Conservative government but because the Ivanov
connection was a matter of national security. Behind closed doors, however,
British intelligence had already concluded that Profumo had not compromised
national security in any way and found little evidence implicating Ivanov as a
spy. Nevertheless, Wigg had raised the issue, and Profumo had no choice but to
stand up before Parliament on March 22 and make a statement. He vehemently
denied the charges, saying "there was no impropriety whatsoever in my
acquaintanceship with Miss Keeler." To drive home his point, he continued, "I
shall not hesitate to issue writs for libel and slander if scandalous
allegations are made or repeated outside the House."
Profumo's convincing denial defused the scandal for several weeks, but in May
Dr. Stephen Ward went on trial in London on charges of prostituting Keeler and
other young women. In the highly sensationalized trial, Keeler testified under
oath about her relationship with Profumo. Ward also wrote Harold Wilson, leader
of the Labour opposition in Parliament, and affirmed that Profumo had lied to
the House of Commons. On June 4, Profumo returned from a holiday in Italy with
his wife and confessed to Conservative leaders that Miss Keeler had been his
mistress and that his March 22 statement to the Commons was untrue. On June 5,
he resigned as war minister.
Prime Minister Macmillan was widely criticized for his handling of the
Profumo scandal. In the press and in Parliament, Macmillan was condemned as
being old, out-of-touch, and incompetent. In October, he resigned under pressure
from his own government. He was replaced by Conservative Alec Douglas-Home, but
in the general election in 1964 the Conservatives were swept from power by
Harold Wilson's Labour Party.
Dr. Stephen Ward fell into a coma after attempting suicide by an overdose of
pills. In his absence, he was found guilty of living off the immoral earnings of
prostitution and died shortly after without regaining consciousness. Christine
Keeler was convicted of perjury in a related trial and began a prison sentence
in December 1963. John Profumo left politics after his resignation and dedicated
himself to philanthropy in the East End of London. For his charitable work,
Queen Elizabeth II named him a Commander of the British Empire, one of Britain's
highest honors, in 1975.
|
