Word: profumo
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...House of Commons this week, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan would have to confront criticism from the Laborites, plus some barely suppressed dissent in his own party, of the way in which he handled, or mishandled, the Profumo scandal. In the long run, the Tories faced an even more elusive and insidious threat than parliamentary attacks-the facts in police dossiers and in the private lives of people who personify Conservative rule...
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...
...explanations filled the newspapers and TV screens. The affair, he protested, had given rise to "a whole train of rumors, and all sorts of people were mentioned, with the implication that I'd been trying to procure them for Miss Keeler." Despite his subsequent attempt to protect Profumo and the government, said Ward, he had reported Profumo's liaison to British intelligence when it was at its height in 1961. Said he: "I've almost had a nervous breakdown. It's a terrible dilemma. One didn't want to bitch up anybody...
Unrest. As a matter of political tactics, the Labor Party decided to treat the Profumo affair not so much as a moral indictment of uppercrust Britain but rather as another flagrant example of the erratic workings of Britain's security system, If, argued Laborites, British intelligence had known all along that Britain's War Minister had shared a call girl with a Soviet agent, why was nothing done to break up a liaison that might expose him to Russian blackmail? Was Macmillan told? If so, had the government encouraged Profumo to lie about his dalliance with Christine...