The Profumo Affair: Sex, Spies, and Scandal During the UK's Cold War

here's a real scandal to consider did you know that two out of every three guys will experience some form of male pattern ball just by the time they're 35 i know it for me it was more like 25 i wish keeps been around when i was younger because advancements in science have meant that there's now treatments that can combat the symptoms of hair loss and help you keep the hair that you have look it's too late for me my hair is not coming back but you don't have to be like me you can stop your hair loss early thanks to keeps keeps off as generic versions of the only two fda-approved drugs for treating hair loss so you may have tried them before but never at a price this low that's right if you were thinking simon this is some sort of medicine it's gonna be mad expensive well you couldn't be more wrong keep starts at just 10 a month how does it work well for one thing there's no need to visit a doctor's office just schedule a quick online consult and a bit later a discreet package arrives at your door and you can use it in the privacy of your own home so if you're noticing that you're losing your hair that's not a problem that's gonna fix itself do something about it so for a limited time go to keeps.com forward slash biographics or click the link in the description below to save 50 of your first order and let's get into today's video take a secretary of state a showgirl and a soviet spy mix them together in the middle of the cold war and you have the recipe for one of the greatest political scandals in british history today we'll be taking a look at the profumo affair a love triangle which became front page news in every newspaper in britain during the early 1960s and helped bring down the conservative government of harold macmillan [Music] let's take a look at the main characters involved in this scandal and see how their lives brought them together we'll start with a male protagonist of the story john dennis profumos since the whole thing was named after him after all he was born in 1915 in kensington london part of the very rich and influential profumo family which came from italian nobility based in the kingdom of sardinia even though john never used the title his father albert was the fourth baron profumo and had made a fortune in insurance owning the lion's share of the provident life association of london unsurprisingly all the benefits of wealth were afforded to john profumo from an early age starting with his education he first went to harrow one of the most expensive and prestigious boarding schools in england afterwards he studied at the university of oxford where he had a romantic tryst that somewhat foreshadowed his future affair which brought him notoriety according to declassified mi5 documents during the 1930s while still in college profumo was in a relationship with german model gisella vinegar who was later convicted of espionage 1940 was a big year for john profilmo his father died leaving him his baronetcy and his fortune he also had his first taste of political success as he had been elected as a new member of parliament or mp for catering becoming the youngest mp in the house of commons profumo had also enlisted in the war and was deployed to africa in 1940 as part of the northamptonshire germany when the war was over it seemed like profumo was set up for success he had the connections the popularity the support of the conservative party and the war record that could take him very far but in 1945 he suffered a surprising setback when he lost the election to his labor opponent without a seat in the house of commons profumo was given a smaller position as a delegate to japan so he spent the next few years abroad preparing to rebuild his political career the 1950s went much better for pefumo during the 1950 general election he was put up as a candidate in stratford-on-ave in a conservative constituency that was considered a safe bet for him to win which he did and then he became an mp again then the following year the conservatives took power as winston churchill became the new prime minister of the united kingdom and profumo began climbing the steps of the political ladder as he was regarded as one of the promising up-and-comers of the conservative party he held various positions mainly for the ministry of transport and the ministry of foreign affairs and in 1960 he was appointed the new secretary of state for war under prime minister harold macmillan his private life wasn't too shabby either as in 1954 profumo married valerie hobson a popular actress of her day best known for her roles in the movies kind hearts and coronets and bride of frankenstein so now let's move over to our tails second protagonist kristin margaret keeler she was born in uxbridge west london on february 22nd 1942 and her early life was markedly different from that of profumo her father left the family when christine was a small girl and she then had to relocate to the village of raisebury with a mother and her new partner who lived in a pair of converted railway carriages keela may have been abused when she was young it's a bit unclear due to conflicting statements when she was 17 she became pregnant but the father who was an american serviceman returned to america christine was forced to give birth at home in secret and her son who was premature died a few days later unsurprisingly christine keeler's home life was not a happy one and she wanted to spend as little time there as possible she soon left school and worked a string of jobs including as a waitress and a model in the late 50s she found work at a cd nightclub in soho called murray's where she was employed as both a hostess and a topless showgirl at the club keela met and befriended two people who would play important roles in the perfumer affair mandy rice davies and stephen ward bryce davies was a showgirl like keila while stephen ward was a successful osteopath who had a lot of high-profile clients such as movie stars and politicians a short while later keila had moved in with ward although she insisted that their relationship was purely platonic more like a brother and sister among ward's important friends was william astor the third vi count haster and the two were close enough that the lord even allowed ward and his entourage to vacation at his country estate called cliveden and this is exactly what ward and killer were doing over the weekend of july the 8th 1961. they were relaxing by the swimming pool when lord astor introduced them to two new guests the actresses valerie hobson and her husband war secretary john propumo [Music] right off the bat john profumo was smitten with the young model who was swimming naked when he first laid eyes on her stephen ward on the other hand was more interested in another one of lord astor's guests a russian diplomat named evgeny ivanov officially ivanov was listed as a naval attache with the soviet embassy but everyone knew is actually a spy working for the gru the soviet military intelligence agency ward had been approached by mi5 to help them cultivate a relationship with ivanov as they hoped he would defect to their side their association was a two-way street as ivanov also tried to pump ward for information regarding his high-profile clients according to one government report ward had at least 40 ministers and mps as patients so it's understandable how both mi5 and the soviets could see him as a valuable resource we don't know whether or not ward asked christine keyler to have any kind of liaisons with any of the men at lord astor's party but he certainly did not discourage her relationships both profumo and ivanov met her for the first time on that weekend and they both began affairs with her soon after now we arrive at a contentious point in the story one which has multiple versions and we cannot say with certainty that any of them are completely true or false whether or not the love triangle actually enabled the russians to obtain sensitive information from profumo the war secretary always denied it even after the whole matter was discovered saying that his conversations with kila were nothing but pillow talk and an independent inquiry that was conducted confirmed this however a kgp report later obtained by the americans claimed the opposite according to one soviet spy who remained unidentified to this day the russians got a lot of useful information from profumo courtesy of his dalliance with christine keeler the report even asserted that ivanov had been able to bug profumo's apartment this all came later however once the whole affair had been exposed for now it was still 1961 and christine keeler was involved with the british politician and a soviet spy both relationships were just short flings john perfumo's liaison with keeler lasted anywhere from a few weeks to a few months but it was definitely over by the end of the year even so mi5 became aware of the war secretary's association with keila and were concerned enough that they alerted the cabinet however it was too early to raise an alarm bell all that happened was a private meeting between john prefumo and the cabinet secretary sir norman brooke who advised profumo to stay away from ward and his entourage and informed him of their relationship with ivanov and how mi5 was monitoring the situation the war secretary broke off his trust with christine keeler after that meeting he wrote her a letter which said darling alas something's blown up tomorrow night and i can't therefore make it i'm terribly sorry especially as i leave the next day for various trips and won't be able to see you again until sometime in september blasted please take great care of yourself and don't run away love jay prefumo would come to regret writing this letter because keela kept it and later showed it to the tabloids but for now at least all was well his little fun was over and he could once again focus on his political career even if people in the cabinet or mi5 suspected him of an affair such concerns were kept quiet the press had not gotten wind of the liaison and nobody was looking to make a big scandal out of the whole thing at least not yet [Music] for the time being it looks like profumo's indiscretion would quickly be overlooked and forgotten as for keela she moved on from medallions with the war secretary and began a new relationship with the jamaican-born jazz singer named aloysius lucky gordon the musician had actually first met christine keeler on august 7 1961 back when she was still with profumo in a cafe in notting hill like many other men in her life he was immediately infatuated with her so he was eager to comfort her when her affair with the politician was over however their relationship was tempestuous often filled with drug-fueled violent confrontations including one time when gordon kept killer hostage for two days and threatened her with an axe by the end of 1962 the 20-year-old had had enough of the musician's temper and was just about ready to move on in september of that year she met a music promoter and small-time hustler from antigua named johnny edgecombe and the two soon became lovers but edgcum wasn't the quiet peaceful type either and he even got into a fight with lucky gordon overkiller giving the jazz singer a cut on his face that required 17 stitches to close the fight happened in october 1962 and christine killer left edgecombe soon after a move back into stevenboard's apartment at 17 wimpole news in marlabone edgecombe however was not willing to let her go and inadvertently set in motion the events that led to the profumo scandal on december the 14th 1962 edgecam showed up at ward's flat looking to speak with keelah she wanted nothing to do with him so she threw him a one pound note for the cab there and told him to leave edgecombe however wouldn't hear of it so he tried to shoulder barge the apartment door when this didn't work he pulled out a gun and fired six shots into the door and the wall above it he left soon afterwards but was arrested and charged on multiple counts including attempted murder taken as an isolated incident this would have hardly been front page news however when she was giving her statement to the police keela mentioned profumo and ivanov the cops did not do anything about it and neither men had anything to do with the crime but this was how the rumors got started there had always been whispers regarding profumo having an affair but nobody pressed the story since without the soviet connection it wouldn't have been considered a big deal in fact prime minister harold macmillan famously wrote in his diary at the outset of the scandal i was forced to spend a great deal of today over a silly scrape women this time thank god not boys it is true that if the whole thing had only been about an mp having an affair everybody else would have probably also treated it like a minor scrape however christine keeler seemed ready to share her story with whoever was willing to listen as it happened one of those people was a former mp named john lewis who had met keela in a nightclub on baker street where she told him of her affair with john perfume lewis had been a member of the labour party who opposed the conservative tories which included perfumo not only that but he also had a personal grudge against stephen ward due to a dispute over a former lover lewis relished the opportunity to cause some trouble for the tories and the ward and so he passed on keela's story to a friend and former colleague of his named george wigg who was serving as an mp at the time and coincidentally had an axe to grind with john prefumo the main reason why no newspaper had mentioned the affair up to that point was because they would most definitely get sued for libel and most likely lose the case wik benefited from something called parliamentary privilege which provided him with legal immunity while carrying out his duty therefore when he brought up the affair in the house of commons he was safe from prosecution because he was doing so in the interest of national security and definitely not to get revenge on a political enemy [Music] the case against profumo unfolded in the house of commons in incremental steps at first whig was basically doing it alone and he had not mentioned the war secretary by nay this is all happening in march 1963 around the same time as johnny edgecombe's trial who was convicted of possessing a firearm with intent to harm and sentenced to seven years in prison christine keeler was supposed to testify in the case but she fled the country to avoid doing so even though she simply went to spain on vacation this was not known at the time so there was talk that the tories might have corrupted the witness to make the case go away this new development caused more labor mps to focus on the scandal until eventually the entire party was asking the war secretary to give an official statement on the matter after an internal discussion within the conservative party john profumo agreed to do so and on march the 23rd he appeared before the house of commons and gave his statement where he basically admitted that he was friends with keeler and ward and that he had met ivanov twice but anything more than that was just pure fabrication he said there was no impropriety in my acquaintanceship with miss keeler and i have made the statement because of what was said yesterday in the house by three honorable members whose remarks were protected by privilege i have no idea where she is now any suggestion that i was in any way connected with or responsible for her absence from the trial at the old bailly is holy and completely untrue i shall not hesitate to issue ritz for libel and slander if scandalous allegations are made or repeated outside this house such statements were usually taken at face value so the matter was dropped for the time being perfumer was aided by kela and ward who both backed up his story initially but this wasn't going to last long with profumo 9 untouchable stephen ward became the one most affected by the burgeoning scandal he was facing several vice charges including forcing keeler and mandy rice davies into prostitution and living off their earnings his high profile friends had all abandoned him and his once thriving osteopathic practice was now crumbling now a desperate man ward wanted the truth to come out hoping that it would exonerate him first he tried contacting the prime minister's office but was ignored a recently discovered memo from the prime minister's personal secretary suggests that mcmillan was aware of ward's revelations but he either didn't believe him or thought his testimony was irrelevant because he would be arrested soon it wasn't until ward went to the labour party that mcmillan was forced to make inquiries regarding his statements meanwhile christine keeler also changed her story mainly after mandy rice debbie's alluded to the press that profumo might have been more intimate with keila than he admitted to the war secretary was on holiday in italy when he received word about the new deployments at which point he confessed everything to his wife and returned home to face the music on july 5th 1963 john perfume admitted that he had lied in the house of commons and resigned his position once profimo's lie had been exposed the scandal reached a whole new level due mainly to the fact that newspapers were no longer under threat of being sued for libel now the media circus started in earnest as tabloids printed every salacious little detail about the affair including the letter profumo had written tequila the conservatives did what they could to minimize the damage to their party they distanced themselves from profimo obviously and placed a lot of the blame on keela who they branded a professional seductress they also blamed ward who they described as a traitor working for the soviets there were calls for the prime minister to resign but macmillan refused and in an attempt to defuse the situation commissioned a high justice official named lord denning to conduct an inquiry and present a report on the affair mainly how it concerned the soviets the report was published in september 1963 to great public anticipation and concluded that there had been no security risk caused by the war secretary's actions even so the scandal had a definitive effect on the public's trust in the conservative party harold macmillan eventually resigned as prime minister in october 1963 citing health concerns he did need to have an operation but scholars and political figures opined that the medical procedure was not serious enough to prevent him from doing his duties and that macmillan used it as a convenient excuse to save face before the perfumer affair macmillan was known as supermac in the british press and his party had easily won the previous election and gained 20 seats in parliament the 1964 general election however revealed the tories giant drop in popularity as they lost 61 seats and the labour party under harold wilson assumed control of the government as for the people directly involved in the scandal they all suffered to some degree but none more so than stephen ward the osteopath who was branded by the government as somehow being the one responsible for the whole affair in an act described retroactively as political revenge and a blatant miscarriage of justice with his life in ruins ward took an overdose of barbiturates and fell into a coma he was found guilty in absentee share of living off immoral earnings but he died a few days later evgeny ivanov returned home to the soviet union in december 1962 months before the scandal broke and the true extent of his role in the matter remains unclear to this day mandy rice davies was coerced into testifying awards trial by a scotland yard inspector who arrested her on a bogus theft charge and sent her to holloway prison until she relented allegedly during her testimony she had her own little moment of fame while being questioned over a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with lord astra at wards department when the opening council informed rice davies that astor denied this she gave them a memorable reply well he would wouldn't he christine keeler tried making the most of her newfound fame and she became ever more infamous after posing naked in a photo shoot for a celebrity photographer louis morley in december 1963 she was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to nine months in prison but served only half when she got out she sold her story to the newspapers but by then interest in the perfumer affair was starting to wane keela mainly stayed at the spotlight once the whole thing blew over although she did write several books on the subject in the decades that followed oftentimes containing new revelations about the perfumer affair that had never been corroborated she married twice divorced twice and had two children before dying on december 4th 2017 at the age of 75. john perfume's political career went up in flames following the scandal but he embarked on a road of redemption he began working at a charity named toynbee hall which focused on impoverished areas of london eventually becoming the chairman of the board of trustees his wife valerie hobson stuck by his side through the whole scandal and joined him in his charitable work the two of them devoted themselves to this charity until their deaths in 1975 profumo received a cbe from queen elizabeth ii or commander of the order of the british empire recognizing his charitable efforts this was a clear sign that he was no longer regarded as a political pariah and he probably could have resumed his career if he wanted to but profumo preferred to work at toynbee hall which he did until his death on march the 9th 2006. so i really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe please do check out today's sponsor keeps link below and thank you for watching [Music]

Channel: Biographics

Views: 142,722

Keywords: biographics, biography, biographies, people, famous people, simon whistler

Id: uR_mLLqrNaE

Length: 19min 59sec (1199 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 26 2021