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Though it was named after the War Minister John Profumo, this affair really revolved around Dr Stephen Ward, society osteopath to the rich and famous from Winston Churchill to Douglas Fairbanks Jr and a host of other celebrities. Confidant of Prince Phillip and close friend of Viscount `Bill' Astor,Ward was an immensely charming and gifted man. However, he was far less gifted when it came to choosing his friends. His artistic ability was such that he had been allowed to draw numerous celebrities including Stanley Spencer, A.P.Herbert, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Churchill, Lord Shawcross, and Prof Bernard Lovell. Many members of the British Royal Family would also sit for Ward including the Duchess of Kent, Wards close friends Lord Snowdon and Prince Phillip, and Princess Margaret. Indeed his work would later be bought up by a well known art historian and disappear forever avoiding further embarrassment to Buckingham Palace.
In the early 1960's Ward rented Spring Cottage on Lord Astors estate and celebrities, politicians and statesmen of the time were more than happy to spend days or weekends as his guests there but nearly all of them abandoned him when he needed their support. Ward however, had entered a rather seedy world of promiscuity and private parties run by the likes of David, Marquis of Milford Haven and the cousin of Prince Phillip. These often developed into full-blown orgies lasting over an extended weekend, with participants as varied as the photographer Baron and American superstar, Bing Crosby.
For months, rumours had circulated about the private life of John Dennis Profumo, Secretary of State for war and his "object of his passion". Educated at Harrow and Oxford, he was a quintessential high Tory who had achieved cabinet rank after serving in a number of junior posts. He was married to the film star Valerie Hobson, and moved effortlessly in the highest of society. In the more deferential spirit of the 1950s, the rumours may have been dismissed. In the early 1960's however the rumours flowered and the young woman was soon named, Christine Keeler. Keeler, unlike Profumo, had had an extremely undistinguished life, she had left home at 16 after an unhappy childhood and gravitated to London where she found work of a sort at Murray's cabaret club.
There she met and befriended another showgirl, Marilyn "Mandy" Rice-Davies. Soon, both young women had drifted into the cosmopolitan and exiting circle that surrounded Dr Stephen Ward. Both young women were to become celebrated players in Ward's celebrity sexual circus centred on his Wimpole Mews flat, equipped with two-way mirrors, Lord Astor's country mansion of Cliveden or weekends at Spring Cottage, parties and other rather more dubious social events. Soon, Keeler, Rice-Davies and numerous other girls in Wards 'Harem' were sleeping around London and the home counties with publicly well known figures many of who have successfully kept their anonymity. It was at Cliveden that John Profumo was introduced to Keeler and a brief but passionate affair ensued, and tongues began to wag. Even then, it might have been brushed under the carpet in the time honoured English way, but Profumo made a fundamental error: he lied to the House of Commons. In March 1963 he stated that there was "no impropriety whatever" in his relationship with Keeler. Ten weeks later he appeared before MPs again to say "with deep remorse" that he had misled the House, and would resign.
What brought Profumo down even more than his deceit of the Commons, was the startling revelation that Keeler had also having sex with Yevgeny 'Eugene' Ivanov, the naval attache at the Soviet embassy and probable GRU intelligence officer. It was that detail which captured world attention, notably in the United States, where the FBI compiled a detailed report called Operation Bowtie. J. Edgar Hoover was fully aware that the Ward circle included many extremely well known Americans and girls such as Suzy Chang and Mariella Novotny who had been bedded by President John F. Kennedy. In fact, Novotny's lovers also included Malcolm X and the Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones.
In Britain, Profumo's disgrace naturally caused a huge sensation, inflated by the establishment's crude and cruel attempts to find scapegoats for its own embarrassment. As usual, official wrath was turned on those least able to defend themselves. Stephen Ward was effectively set-up in a totally disgraceful way by the British establishment and to the lasting dishonour of all those involved, abandoned by the rich and famous who had so willing and so often accepted his hospitality and his girls favours. Ward was prosecuted on trumped up charges of living on 'immoral earnings'. On the last day of his trial, he killed himself with an overdose of sleeping tablets. Keeler was also tried and imprisoned on related charges. Rice-Davies, escaped prosecution, while several of the other girls who were kept out of the limelight by the prosecution died unexpectedly young over the next few years
Stephen Ward's downfall was a highly convenient bit of luck for the disgraced ex Minister for War John Profumo. Focussing attention, as it did, on the sordid details of the lives of two pretty but extraordinarily silly girls, Ward's trial displaced from public awareness the fact that Profumo had lied to Parliament about his private life and prevented serious investigation of the real security aspects of the affair. Profumo's career in politics ended but he was awarded the CBE in 1975. Following Ward's trial and tragic death he devoted his time to charitable work. Less than two months after Ward's tragic and mysterious death, an official report was produced by Lord Denning, master of the rolls. He criticised the government for failing to deal with the affair more quickly, but concluded that national security had not been compromised and privately both Denning and the Government pushed the blame onto the shoulders of Sir Roger Hollis, Director General of MI5. He was responsible for not having warned his political masters of the possible security repercussions of the Minister of War sharing a whore with a Soviet Intelligence Officer. The Profumo affair was no passing sensation. It all but brought down the Macmillan government and it almost certainly finished Macmillan himself as Prime Minister. In October 1963, less than a month after publication of the Denning report, the MacMillan resigned citing ill health.
The Security aspects of the affair have never been entirely or satisfactorily explained, but it is known that MI5 ran a brothel in Church Street in Kensington throughout much of the 1950's and early 1960's for the use of visiting dignitaries, diplomats and intelligence officers. While for those too important to visit such an establishment certain discreet gentlemen were called upon to provide young female or male company directly to the VIP hotel bedroom, Dr Stephen Ward was probably one of those 'gentlemen'. He certainly had the right social connections, the girls and indeed he had an MI5 controller, Keith Wagstaffe (cover-name 'Woods'). John Profumo stumbled upon a joint MI5-SIS honey-trap operation designed to persuade Ivanov, the Soviet Naval Attache and probable spy to defect. Indeed, Sir Colin Coote, Editor of the Daily Telegraph and a former officer in the Secret Intelligence Service was responsible for introducing Ward to Ivanov at the behest of his old service.
A senior MI5 officer involved in the operation said that it was a pity that Wards true role had not been revealed at the time of his trial. "I think that everyone involved did feel sorry about Ward and the final outcome". Ward, he added was a patriot working for his country. "Nowhere in the Denning Report does it say that Ward was acting under our (MI5) instructions, that is very unfortunate"
To cover up the risk of international humiliation, political and security embarrassment, someone had to be sacrificed, that someone was the unfortunate and very loyal Dr Stephen Ward. |
