Alistair Horne says that, although he showed it to few, Macmillan was haunted by ghosts and tragedy, having lost many friends and family by his old age, including those that died in the trenches, and that his past continued to affect him. Horne also believes that he leant on his religion to get his through testing times, including the physical pain from his war wounds and the loneliness he experienced.7 Throughout his life, Macmillan, battered by his broken marriage, suffered from depression and was plagued with self-doubt, says Horne.8
Macmillan became Prime Minister on Thursday, 10 January 1957, a time when Horne tells us Britain was still reeling from the shock of the Suez crisis. He was 63. He’d come from his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer, with many assuming the Tory government might not last many more weeks. He celebrated his appointment the next evening with Chief Whip Edward Heath at the Turf Club, downing either champagne and oysters or game pie, depending on which account you read. He might be forgiven for thinking it was the culmination of a great career.
Davenport-Hines says that while Macmillan embraced change, he also valued the status quo, planning his government so that it was balanced and no one individual MP stood out from the others.9 He also says he lived frugally, that Lord Hailsham described Macmillan’s Cabinets as being run like ‘dining clubs’, and that overall, the Prime Minister came across as having a British nobleman personality. Once in office, Macmillan was said to begin to attend the Derby, cricket matches and other events that the party faithful would expect of him. By 1962, Davenport-Hines says, Macmillan was trying to align his party with the ideals of modernisation and the Opposition as backward-looking.10
Alistair Horne says that when 1962 was over, Macmillan recorded it as a difficult year.11 He’d faced the reshuffle that became known as the ‘Night of the Long Knives’, the Berlin partition, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and tense meetings with Charles de Gaulle at Rambouillet and John F. Kennedy at Nassau. Macmillan had done all of this while he endured endless ribbing by popular cartoonists and satirists of the time. A stage revue called Beyond the Fringe, which had debuted at Edinburgh Fringe in 1960, and then went on to play in the West End, was hugely successful and saw Peter Cook play Macmillan. In the show, Cook’s Macmillan suffered from senility and couldn’t pronounce ‘Conservative Party’ coherently.
He was not without his critics inside the party too. In June 1962, after the loss of a by-election in Orpington, Reginald Maudling seemingly criticised the PM for not facing the problems of the 1960s. In June 1962, the Tory MP for Ludlow, Jasper More, said he thought it was time Macmillan moved to the Upper House. Macmillan also fell foul of the Monday Club, formed in 1961, which called for his resignation. In January 1962, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the 5th Marquess of Salisbury, became the Club’s first president. The Marquess had previously resigned from Macmillan’s Cabinet over the Prime Minister’s liberal direction and, like others in the Club, held the firm belief that Macmillan had taken the party in the wrong political direction – too far to the left.
By 1963, Macmillan headed a Cabinet with the youngest average age for a century. Yet it seems many members of the government still couldn’t accept homosexuality and the idea that some people sought out, and enjoyed, casual sex with various partners, and maybe even more than one partner at the same time. And that some of those people might even be women!
While illicit love affairs may have affected his personal life and sensibilities, it was spy scandals that plagued Macmillan’s professional life. And then when sex and espionage combined in one big story, things went from bad to worse.
Three years into Macmillan’s premiership, in 1961, and thanks to a tip-off from a CIA source, arrests began in what became known as the Portland Spy Ring. After the spies were convicted, Macmillan immediately set up an investigation into the affair headed up by retired judge Sir Charles Romer. This wasn’t enough to stop people calling for the resignation of the man in charge of the Admiralty, Lord Carrington, where the leaks had taken place.
To add salt to the wounds, Polish defector Michael Goleniewski then exposed intelligence officer George Blake as a double agent. Blake was born in Rotterdam of a naturalised British father and a Dutch mother. He’d served in the Dutch resistance and the Royal Navy before joining intelligence but the influence on him by his older cousin Henri Curiel, co-founder of the Egyptian Communist Party, had been overlooked.12 Blake’s position had allowed him to betray around forty British and American agents working in the field over the ten years he was an active spy, and he received a maximum sentence of forty-two years in prison. When he was interrogated, Blake admitted he had betrayed his country for ideological rather than financial motives, offering his services to his captors during his internment in the Korean War. The involvement of American names had meant Macmillan had even had to discuss the infiltration with Kennedy at the same time he was hoping to rebuild the ‘Special Relationship’.
Since the Romer Report had criticised the Admiralty department where Harry Houghton had passed secrets to the Portland spies, Macmillan set up a second enquiry to investigate British security. This committee, under Lord Radcliffe, published its results in January 1962, calling for improved vetting of staff and a continued use of press-gagging D-notices. It also pointed to communist penetration within the civil service and trades unions, although overall, Horne says Macmillan was satisfied the report hadn’t shown any deep-rooted problems that needed addressing. The press also seemed happy with the report findings at that point.13
But one blind spot in Macmillan’s approach to the question of spies, however, was his relationship with the Director General of MI5, Sir Roger Hollis. As this time, both the heads of MI5 and MI6 had right of direct access to the Prime Minister to be used at their discretion. This communication would have been of great use during the Profumo Affair when one of the criticisms levelled at Macmillan was that he either didn’t know what his ministers were up to, or that he knew Profumo was a liar, and did nothing about it. Macmillan, however, was dismissive of Hollis and thought of him as insignificant.14 Hollis would in fact become very significant.
Then came the John Vassall case. This time, the Admiralty had afforded a socially isolated homosexual the opportunity to be blackmailed into handing over sensitive documents in Moscow. Hollis told Macmillan the traitor had been caught, but instead of praise, Macmillan had chastised him. The Prime Minister explained he’d rather the spy had been discovered and then controlled than exposed. Now Macmillan expected more questions in the House and criticism in the media. Hollis perhaps learnt a lesson here about using his access to the PM, a lesson that would come back to bite the premier.
Now Macmillan was forced to balance dividing his energy between the Vassall case and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Vassall was successfully charged and sentenced, but rumours began to circulate linking minister Tam Galbraith sexually with Vassall, mainly because the two had, rather unusually for boss and worker, exchanged letters by post. Galbraith was vindicated but because of the rumours, he resigned, and his resignation was accepted. Accounts differ as to whether he went willingly, or was pushed, but Horne says Macmillan later admitted that ‘allowing Galbraith to resign had been a serious mistake’.15
A further smaller spy case followed Vassall’s exposure. Barbara Fell, who worked at the Central Office of Information, was caught handing over confidential documents to her boyfriend, who was an official at the Yugoslavian Embassy. She was sentenced to two years in prison, which she served in Holloway, Hill Hall in Essex and Askham Grange in Yorkshire. Some felt her treatment was a harsh response given that the papers she handed over did not risk national security, but that she was made an example of because of the climate and what had come before.
But there was more. In 1955, when Macmillan was Foreign Secretary, Harold ‘Kim’ Philby was under suspicion of being the ‘Third Man’. It was known that someone had tipped off Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean in time for them to flee to Russia, but due to lack of evidence, it was Macmillan himself who told the Commons that there was no reason to suspect Philby was a traitor. However, in January 1963, Philby defected and finally admitted his role as a double agent. It was announced by Edward Heath for the Foreign Office in March to uproar in the press and an uncomfortable session in the Commons.16
The government were now also aware of British art historian Anthony Blunt, who was recruited for MI5 in 1940, and eventually confessed to being a Russian spy in 1964 when offered immunity from prosecution, after Macmillan’s resignation. He had been under suspicion in some quarters since 1950 but despite that he was on good terms with Sir Dick White, who had been Director General (DG) at both MI5 and MI6, even spending Christmas with him at Victor Rothchild’s home. As part of the deal, Blunt’s spying was kept an official secret for fifteen years.
Reports were also coming in about Graham Mitchell, the Deputy Director General of MI5, who had been observed meeting a ‘foreigner’ in the park. Mitchell had worked for MI5 since 1939, because having had polio, he was considered unfit for military service. It was Mitchell who had led the investigation into how much information Burgess and Maclean had passed on while undercover, perhaps not coincidently, some suggest, the 1955 White Paper that failed to identify Philby. Before a case against Mitchell could be built, he suddenly resigned. This suggested yet another insider had warned him in time. Mitchell had been appointed Deputy DG by DG Roger Hollis himself.
The seemingly unending revelations about problems with national security and homosexuality were clearly a worry for Macmillan as head of the government.17 Horne says it was this background that had set the scene where the Profumo Affair then unfolded.18
Part II
The Drama Unfolds
Chapter 8
Profumo and Keeler Date
In recalling the infamous Cliveden weekend, John Profumo told his son that he was indeed very attracted to Keeler. He also told David that while he had assumed Keeler was Ward’s girlfriend, he had noticed that Ward didn’t seem concerned when others took an interest her (presumably him!).1 Undeterred by the thought that Keeler might already be attached, however, Profumo followed up on his interest, while his wife was reportedly out of town visiting his Warwickshire constituency.
Keeler says Profumo contacted her on 12 July 1961, and that he was unrestrained in his desire to pursue her, describing his quest to date her as the only thing that mattered to him.2 And so, the 19-year-old girl and the 46-year-old politician drove away from Wimpole Mews in his fancy black car,3 and took in Regent’s Park, Downing Street, the War Office and the army barracks that it was Profumo’s job to inspect. The Profumo Affair had officially begun.
While not immediate, Keeler and Profumo became lovers, with Keeler recalling the relationship as being nothing more than pleasant and certainly not anything out of the ordinary.4 She also accepted she was not the first extra-marital affair, or even the last, Profumo had. However, Keeler found the arrangement agreeable, and Profumo was inclined to send notes to Keeler to keep the romance alive. The only one she kept ended up being circulated first by the Sunday Pictorial newspaper and then again, perhaps with more effect, via the Denning Report.
For his part, in his explanation to his son, Profumo had clear plans to begin a sexual affair with Keeler almost immediately after first meeting her at Cliveden and says their first sexual encounter probably occurred on 16 July, which was a Sunday, meaning Ward would be away in the country.5 Profumo also told his son the affair was short-lived, and probably accounted to no more than three meetings and certainly did not include a trip to France or any suggestion that he would set Keeler up in her own accommodation.
However, Keeler says the affair, which she found exciting, continued and that she was happy about it, although shocked that Profumo made no attempt to be discreet, driving around in easily recognisable government vehicles.6 Sex took place at the marital home in Chester Terrace, at Wimpole Mews, even in a car. Keeler also makes it clear that when ‘Jack’ offered her money to buy her gifts, she generally refused,7 once accepting £20 for her mother. She also says she received perfume and a cigarette lighter. On this, at least, the pair agree. Profumo also told his son that he did not think Keeler was a call girl, simply a model between jobs, to whom education and books were completely unfamiliar.8
The relationship first hit a bump in the road when Keeler received the infamous ‘Darling’ letter in which Profumo cancelled their plans. Keeler believes that the letter was a result of her refusing Ward’s request to ask her lover sensitive details and that when she said no, Ward rang MI5 DG Roger Hollis to arrange for Profumo to be made aware of Wagstaffe’s report on her being a security risk.
Keeler says Profumo did not want to stop seeing her, despite what his note said, and instead asked her to move out of Ward’s flat and away from his influence.9 This request caused Keeler to finish things with Profumo and she expected not to see him again.
However, when Profumo explains to his son what happened to cause him to write this note, his explanation is a little different. Profumo senior says he was summoned to a meeting with Secretary of the Cabinet Sir Norman Brook, at 4.00 pm on 9 August. Ahead of the meeting, Profumo was told there was a sensitive matter than needed clearing up rather rapidly. It transpired that the matter was that MI5 was watching Wimpole Mews and considered Ward potentially some sort of ‘go-between’ rather than an agent, but that he was certainly not the type of person Profumo should be seen to be around. MI5 would certainly have been watching Ivanov at that time too.
Knightly and Kennedy say it was at this meeting that MI5 hoped to recruit Profumo himself into helping them entrap Ivanov in some manner. Having heard directly from Ward that Profumo was flirting with Keeler at the Cliveden pool party, the security services may have wanted to make sure they didn’t end up with Profumo in a relationship with Keeler rather than Ivanov. Of course, unbeknown to MI5, Profumo had worked far faster than they imagined and had already followed up the July weekend with an immediate call and several dates. At the meeting, Profumo declined to become involved in the Security Service’s plan.
Profumo claims it was this meeting that caused him to dash off the letter on headed notepaper to Keeler that started ‘Darling’ that was later published, and which, of course, confirmed their affair.
While the letter simply reads as if Profumo would be unavailable to meet up with Keeler until September and asks her not to disappear, Profumo told his son that the letter was him trying to break off the affair.10 David Profumo believes that while his father seems unclear on the actual date of the end of the affair, it’s likely his father continued to see Keeler until the end of that year when the excitement of the illicit relationship had worn off.
But Keeler also says that despite what the public were led to believe, her relationship with Profumo didn’t end in August 1961. She admits that she covered up their continuing affair, having called him in late October 1961, one night heading to Murray’s and later making love in his car, after which she became pregnant by the minister. It was after this date that the two parted ways, she says. Knightley and Kennedy say the reason Profumo and Keeler split was based on the minister’s insistence that his mistress move out of Ward’s flat and into one he financed, thus protecting him from Ward gossiping about the affair.12
Perhaps it is not unsurprising the accounts of the affair attributed to Keeler and Profumo after the event differ. Profumo seems to recall a brief period of maybe three meetings taking place only during the months of July and August in 1961. Clearly, he was keen to downplay the relationship in any way he could for both personal and professional reasons. Or perhaps Keeler was just one of many affairs over his lifetime and the details weren’t that important to him.
Meanwhile, Keeler claims the romance lasted longer with more assignations between the two lovers. Her motivation to make ‘more’ of the events than Profumo did may have been due to press interest or during a police interrogation, where the idea was to encourage Keeler to link Ward to her relationships. It may simply be the truth.
Of course, it’s not unusual for two lovers to have different accounts of the same relationship after the event. Although most relationships, and how and when they ended, don’t arouse quite as much public interest as this one did.
Chapter 9
Love Rivals Bring Keeler to the Fore
