Which UK Cabinet Minister was Christine Keeler associated with?

Answer 1

John Dennis Profumo, CBE (January 30, 1915 – March 9, 2006), informally known as Jack Profumo, was a British politician and the central figure in the Profumo Affair of 1963, which caused severe damage to the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan and is held to have contributed to its defeat in the election the following year. In later life he worked to aid Toynbee Hall, a London charity, and used his political skills and contacts to raise large sums of money. He was advanced from OBE (Military) to CBE in 1975 in recognition of this work.

He was married to the actress Valerie Hobson.

In July 1960, Profumo was appointed a Secretary of State for War, ( outside of the cabinet) and a member of the Privy Council.

In January 1961, at a party at Cliveden, home of Viscount Astor, Profumo met Christine Keeler, a call girl with whom he had a brief affair. The relationship lasted only a few weeks before Profumo ended it, but rumours about the affair began to circulate.
Keeler was also involved with Yevgeny Ivanov, the senior naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy. The "Profumo Affair" thus took on a national security dimension, and it was this which led to the matter becoming public.

In December 1962, a shooting incident in London involving two other men who were involved with Keeler led the press to investigate her, and reporters soon learned of her affairs with Profumo and Ivanov. But the British tradition of respecting the private lives of British politicians was maintained until March 1963, when the Labour MP George Wigg, claiming to be motivated by the national security aspects of the case, referred in the House of Commons to rumours that Profumo was having an affair with Keeler. Profumo then made a personal statement in which he admitted he knew Keeler but denied there was any "impropriety" in their relationship.

Profumo's statement did not prevent newspapers publishing stories about Keeler, and it soon became apparent to Macmillan that his position was untenable. On 5 June 1963 Profumo was forced to admit that he had lied to the House: an unforgivable sin in British politics. He resigned from office, from the House and from the Privy Council. Before making his public confession Profumo confessed the affair to his wife, who stood by him. It was never shown that his relationship with Keeler had led to any breach of national security. The scandal rocked the Conservative government, and was generally held to have been among the causes of its defeat by Labour at the 1964 election.

Profumo maintained complete public silence about the Profumo Affair for the rest of his life, even when the 1989 film Scandal and the publication of Keeler's memoirs revived the affair in the public mind.

Besides John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War and Yevgeny Ivanov, a naval attaché at the embassy of the Soviet Union, among Keeler's collection of lovers were two West Indians - Aloysius ‘Lucky’ Gordon and Johnny Edgecombe. Gordon, with a previous criminal record, was infatuated with Keeler. Keeler alleged that he assaulted her in the street and held her captive for two days at one point. She filed charges but was persuaded to drop them by Gordon's brother.

Keeler eventually rejected Gordon's advances and bought a revolver to protect herself from him. Edgecombe was enlisted to act as her minder. On 27 October 1962 Edgecombe and Gordon were involved in a fracas at a Soho club and Edgecombe sliced Gordon’s face with a knife. The wound needed seventeen stitches.

Edgecombe went into hiding from the police. Keeler changed her address to hide from Gordon. Edgecombe contacted Keeler to request her help in finding a solicitor before the police found him. Keeler refused to help as he had taken a new lover in the meantime. She told him that she was not prepared to help him and intended to testify against him in court.

In the early afternoon of 14 December 1962, Edgecombe arrived at Ward’s Wimple Mews flat. Keeler, there visiting Mandy Rice-Davies who was living with Ward, refused to let him in. Edgecombe shot at the door with the revolver that had belonged to Keeler. The alarm was raised: Wimpole Mews was soon swarming with police and journalists. Edgecombe escaped in a taxi. He was arrested later at his Brentford flat.

Keeler was imprisoned for nine months for perjury in a related trial involving 'Lucky' Gordon. Stephen Ward was charged with living on the earnings of prostitution, including earnings from Christine Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies; Ward committed suicide on the last day of his trial, before a verdict could be returned.

Answer 2

Secretary of State for War John Profumo.

Answer 3

Then-Secretary of State for War John Profumo. ...

Answer 4

john profumo. minister of war

Answer 5

Mr.Profumo