WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS
COUNTRY? shouted the Daily Mirror. As if anyone didn't know. What went on was just the kind of story on which the Mirror thrives. Although it had started out merely as venery in high (and several low) places, it grew into a major scandal that not only smashed the career of a promising Tory politician, but also raised some troubling questions about British security and rocked the Macmillan government. Otherwise, it read like La Dolce Vita, Anglo-Saxon style.
The story first emerged partially last March, when its leading characters became publicly identified: red-haired Christine Keeler, who came from Middlesex to sling hash at 17, and at 21 was the West End's most-called girl; John Profumo, 48, the able War Minister and man-about-Mayfair, whose virile charm proved something of a Tory asset after those homosexual spy scandals; and Dr. Stephen Ward, 43, a socialite osteopath (and son of the Anglican canon of Rochester Cathedral), who said he liked helping attractive girls of humble birth adapt to "the needs and stresses of modern living."
After months of rumor, a Labor M.P. challenged the government to deny the rumors of a minister's indiscretions with Christine. Profumo's firm denial of wrongdoing, and a demonstration of support from Prime Minister Macmillan, quashed the story temporarily-until it burst forth again last week. This time Profumo resigned from the government after an abrupt, abject confession that he had previously lied to the Prime Minister, his colleagues and the House of Commons.
Coexistence. Of noble Italian descent, John Dennis Profumo had every qualification to reach the Tories' top ranks: Harrow and Oxford, fine war record, brains, drive, and a beautiful wife, Movie Actress Valerie (Great Expectations) Hobson. Together, the Pro-fumos were weekending at Cliveden, famed country estate of Lord and Lady Astor, when they were introduced to Christine in 1961. Also present: Stephen Ward, who had a cottage on the place. Thereafter, Valerie stayed home while Jack visited Christine at Ward's flat in Wimpole Mews. What the War Minister never knew was that Christine had another regular visitor, Evgeny Ivanov, who was a Soviet naval attache in London. A round-eyed observer of their coexistence was Nymphet Marilyn ("Mandy") Rice-Davies, a well-developed 16-year-old, who was one of Christine's intimates. "The farcical thing about it all," as Mandy told the press, "was that, on more than one occasion, as Jack left Christine at the flat, Ivanov walked in."
It possibly seemed less hilarious to British MI-5 intelligence agents, who were shadowing Ivanov at the time, to find that their War Minister was unwittingly sharing a bed with a suspected Soviet spy.