Lord Denning and the Profumo Scandal

It was always hectic at Question Time in the House of Lords – sometimes as many as 30 questions in a ten minute period. Occasionally glancing directly ahead towards the Woolsack where the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, was presiding, I was furiously making notes of the proceedings.

Then to my alarm there was an almighty thump on the rear of my seat which completely shattered my concentration and sent my mind into overdrive. As I half-turned, I heard a passionate interjection from the peer who had just risen from his seat on the cross benches – so passionate, in fact, that he had thought nothing of bringing his fist crashing down so close to my shoulder on the chair’s backrest.

It was the unmistakeable Hampshire burr of Lord Denning one of this country’s greatest lawyers and judges.

He was, by then, also one of this country’s longest serving judges – popularly known as the people’s judge because he tried to do justice in every case even if it meant shaping the law as he did so. It made him unpopular in some quarters, particularly in government and with academics who felt he meddled too much with judicial precedent.

Nonetheless, he was a champion of the man on the Clapham Omnibus, his judgments written in plain English were lucid and easy to understand and he was, at least legally, a 20th century national treasure.

He was later found to have been in contempt of parliament and completely resigned his seat. His disgrace was complete when his name was removed from the Privy Council.

Tom Denning was asked to examine the circumstances leading to the resignation and report with particular reference on any danger to national security.

Central to the story is Stephen Ward, a society osteopath with consulting rooms in Devonshire Street, Mayfair. His high-society clients included those from politics and the world of show business.

Approaching 50, Ward was quick-witted and sociable as well as being an accomplished portrait artist. He loved beautiful young women, frequented night clubs and made a point of picking up teenage girls and taking them back to his house in Wimpole Street. He introduced them to his society friends.

One of his friends was Captain Eugene Ivanov, a Russian naval attaché at the Russian Embassy in London. He, too, was keen on the ladies.

Ivanov was a frequent visitor to pool parties at Ward’s rented cottage at Cliveden.

By the time Profumo resigned, the press were having a field day and stories of wild sex parties abounded around the involvement of government figures and other prominent people. Within days of the resignation Stephen Ward was arrested and charged with procuring young women and living off immoral earnings.

The prosecution case wasn’t exactly overwhelming and some thought it was an attempt by government to distract attention from the real truth, a concept not entirely unheard of even to this day.

Ward eventually stood trial at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Marshall and a jury. He was prosecuted by Mervyn-Griffiths Jones, the very same counsel who prosecuted over the publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Not know as a man of the world, Griffiths Jones referred to Stephen Ward as representing “the very depths of lechery and depravity.”

Mr Justice Marshall summed up strongly for the prosecution and adjourned overnight before sending the jury out the following day. During the evening Stephen Ward wrote letters to friends and others before taking an overdose of barbiturate sleeping tablets. He was taken to hospital.

The judge completed his summing-up in the defendant’s absence, the jury returned and convicted Ward of living off the immoral earnings of Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davies, although he was found not guilty on some other charges. Sentence was postponed until Ward was fit to appear, but a few days later his part in this tragic affair came to an abrupt conclusion when he died.

Moving back in time to the Cliveden weekends, it was there that Captain Ivanov told Stephen Ward that the Russians knew as a fact that the American Government had taken a decision to arm Western Germany with atomic weapons, and he asked Ward to find out through his influential friends when the decision was to be implemented.

Ivanov implied that if he did so, he would facilitate a trip by Ward to Moscow where he wished to arrange portrait sittings with President Kruschev. The Security Service came to learn of the friendship and at some stage spoke to Ward about it.

Ward organised a pool party. Afterwards Ivanov left the house and took Christine Keeler back to town and there was some sexual engagement.

During the weekend Profumo became very attracted to Christine Keeler and over the course of the next few weeks he arranged to meet her for sex.

The question that subsequently arose, of course, was whether there was a security breach and if Profumo was innocently used to provide information to the Russians.

Lord Astor wrote to the Foreign Office, told them he had a friend called Stephen Ward who had become a friend of Captain Ivanov and suggested that if the Foreign Office wished to ensure that at any particular moment the Russian Embassy was absolutely correctly informed as to Western intentions, Stephen Ward would be useful.

Lord Astor was told quite clearly that the Foreign Office would not wish to use Ward’s services. It did not end there. The services of another Member of Parliament were enlisted and ultimately Ward went to see the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office. But the Foreign Office seemed to have no illusions about Stephen Ward and his offer was declined.

Lord Denning’s view was that Ward was without doubt a communist sympathiser and so very much under the influence of Captain Ivanov that he was a potential danger. But all this was known to the Security Service who kept appropriate people informed.

Christine Keeler came to learn that there were two newspapers who would buy her story. One was the News of the World and the other was the Sunday Pictorial. When the Sunday Pictorial offered her £1,000 she went to the News of the World who refused to become involved in a Dutch auction. So she signed a contract with the Sunday Pictorial to sell them her story for £1,000, £200 to be paid now and £800 on completion.

She told the story of her double life with rich men in high places as well as the seedier side of it. She told them about her relations with Profumo and Captain Ivanov and she produced a letter from Profumo to corroborate her story. She told the newspaper that Stephen Ward had asked her to obtain information from Profumo about Germany and nuclear weapons.

When Stephen Ward found out about the interview with the Sunday Pictorial, he did all he could to stop it. Solicitors were involved. Lord Astor was involved and he went to see John Profumo to tell him of the danger.

Ministers were concerned at a very early stage. Profumo saw the Attorney-General and the Chief Whip.

The Attorney-General began by telling Profumo that he must be absolutely frank with him and unless he told the truth he was not prepared to help. Profumo told the Attorney-General that he had first met Christine Keeler at Cliveden with his wife and many other people were present. Although there were subsequent meetings between them, there was no sexual impropriety of any kind.

Profumo recollected that he had written Christine Keeler a short note that began with the word “darling” telling her that he could not come to a cocktail party. He said this was the total limit of his acquaintance with her.

The Attorney-General questioned Profumo about everything he was told and emphasised that if there were any truth in these rumours, he would have to resign. Profumo proclaimed his complete innocence and said he commonly used the word “darling” and, being married to an actress, he had become used to using the term which was quite meaningless.

The Attorney-General remained suspicious. He thought it a rather odd story. A few days later he revisited Profumo in the company of the Solicitor-General. The Solicitor-General asked Profumo if the story were printed would he be prepared to issue a writ for libel or slander. He said he would even if it were against a friend or colleague.

Profumo saw the Chief Whip and went through the same detail. The Chief Whip said: “Well, look, nobody would believe that you didn’t sleep with her.” Profumo replied disarmingly “Yes, I know they wouldn’t believe it, but it happens to be true that I didn’t sleep with her.”

Meanwhile, Christine Keeler was due to give evidence in an unrelated attempted murder trial at the Old Bailey but she disappeared. Her photograph appeared in a newspaper with the words “This is Christine Keeler, the 21-year-old model who was found to be missing yesterday when the Old Bailey trial of a man accused of attempting to murder her began.”

The newspapers were also running stories that Profumo had offered to resign although there was no truth in them. They also placed these two stories alongside each other with a picture of Christine Keeler, and the front page of the Daily Express aroused alarm. The Chief Whip felt it was all getting out of hand. Members of Parliament were asking whether Profumo had arranged for Christine Keeler’s disappearance.

On 30 March Paris Match published an article saying “Christine disparait mysterieusement. Profumo a aide Christine s’enfuir.” Profumo brought an action for libel in the French Courts and Paris Match issued a retraction.

But matters deteriorated. Harold Wilson raised security issues and there was a burst of speculation in Fleet Street. At the end of May the Chief whip and the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary separately saw Profumo. He was told it looked as if there would be an inquiry and if there was any flaw in his story it would damage the government enormously. Again, he stood by his story.

On Friday 31 May Parliament adjourned for the Recess. Mr and Mrs Profumo left for holiday in Venice. They were inundated by the Press at the airport. But Profumo had determined to tell his wife the truth. That sat up all night. On 4 June he saw the Chief Whip and the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary and said at once “I have to tell you that I did sleep with Miss Keeler and my statement in that respect was untrue.”

There ended this pitiful affair.

Lord Denning found that the primary responsibility must rest with Profumo: First, by associating with Christine Keeler as he did; secondly, and worse, by telling lies about it to colleagues and deceiving them: third, and gravest, by the falsity of his solemn statement to the House of Commons.

None of the governmental services was to blame except Profumo. There was no breach of national security.

At the conclusion of his Report Lord Denning wrote this: “Scandalous information about well-known people has become a marketable commodity. True or false, actual or invented, it can be sold. The greater the scandal, the higher the price it commands. If supported by photographs or letters, real or imaginary, all the better … The story improves with the telling. The story is offered to the newspapers … who deal in this commodity. They vie with one another to buy it. Each is afraid the other will get it first. So they buy it on chance that it will turn out profitable.”