Sex, Spies, and Scandal: The Profumo Affair That Shook 1960s Britain

On June 5, 1963, a scandal exploded in British politics that combined Cold War intrigue, sexual misconduct, and class tensions — and it all centered around a 21-year-old model named Christine Keeler.

This was the Profumo Affair, a story that brought down a government minister, rocked the Conservative Party, and forever changed the life of the woman caught in the middle.

A Scandal With All the Ingredients

Christine Keeler was young, beautiful, and completely unprepared for the firestorm that would follow when it was revealed that she had an affair with John “Jack” Profumo, the UK Secretary of State for War. The press alleged that during her brief relationship with Profumo, she was also involved with a Soviet naval attaché, Yevgeny Ivanov — a suspected spy.

For the tabloids, this was gold: a sex scandal with a possible national security twist at the height of the Cold War.

Profumo initially denied everything to Parliament. Ten weeks later, under mounting pressure and exposed as a liar, he resigned. That moment marked the beginning of the end for Prime Minister Harold Macmillan’s government.

Christine Keeler: More Than a Tabloid Headline

Before she became a national scandal, Keeler had already lived through hardship. Born in poverty, sexually abused in her youth, and having lost a baby as a teenager, she left school at 15 and worked as a model and showgirl to make ends meet.

She met Profumo through Stephen Ward, a well-connected osteopath and artist with powerful friends and a penchant for introducing young women to wealthy men. It was at Lord Astor’s Cliveden estate that Keeler and Profumo first met — Keeler, swimming nude on a dare, caught the politician’s eye. That chance encounter sparked an affair that would have far-reaching consequences.

The Fallout: Guns, Lies, and Political Collapse

The scandal might have stayed under wraps if not for a violent love triangle involving Keeler, two other men, and a shooting outside Ward’s flat in December 1962. That incident, involving gangster Johnny Edgecombe, brought the press and police to Keeler’s doorstep.

With the Cold War fueling paranoia and recent spy scandals fresh in the public mind, rumors that Keeler had shared secrets with Ivanov triggered a political frenzy. When Parliament grilled Profumo, he lied. When the truth came out, he had to go.

Ward’s Tragic End and a Public Trial

Profumo’s resignation was just the beginning. Authorities charged Stephen Ward with living off immoral earnings, painting him as a pimp for Keeler and fellow showgirl Mandy Rice-Davies. As the trial unfolded, salacious details about Britain’s elite filled the headlines.

Rice-Davies famously quipped, “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?” when told Lord Astor denied sleeping with her — a line that made her instantly iconic.

None of Ward’s high-society friends came to his defense. Isolated and disgraced, he took his own life before the trial concluded.

Keeler’s Struggles After the Spotlight

Keeler didn’t escape unscathed. In 1963, she was jailed for perjury after lying in a case involving another ex-boyfriend. She served nine months in prison.

Though a public inquiry found no national security breach, the scandal irreparably damaged the Conservative government. Macmillan resigned, and the Tories lost the 1964 general election.

Profumo disappeared from politics, devoting his life to charity. He was eventually honored by the Queen for his service. Keeler, by contrast, never truly recovered.

She lived out her years in relative obscurity, writing several books and giving occasional interviews, hoping to reclaim her narrative.

“I’ve just been a newspaper clipping,” she told the BBC in 1983. “I’ve never really had my say.”

A Legacy That Endures

Keeler died in 2017, still shadowed by a scandal that defined — and confined — her life. Despite being vilified in her time, her story has since been reexamined with more empathy.

As her co-author Douglas Thompson once put it, “She could never stop being Christine Keeler.” And in many ways, Britain could never stop being fascinated by her.

Source: BBC – ‘The press went absolutely mad’: The 1960s sex scandal that rocked British politics