Boring?
Not for Mr. Profumo I reckon.
Posted on 03/10/2006 4:11:32 AM PST by Aussie Dasher
John Profumo, the cabinet minister at the centre of one of Britain's biggest political scandals, has died aged 91.
Mr Profumo was forced to resign in 1963 as minister of war over his extramarital affair with a 19-year-old model, who had also slept with a Soviet diplomat.
Breaking at the height of the Cold War, the scandal led to accusations that British security had been at risk.
It damaged the Conservative government of the time and contributed to its election defeat in 1964.
Mr Profumo quit after confessing he had lied to Parliament about his relationship with the model, Christine Keeler.
He devoted the rest of his life to charity work in London's run-down East End.
Ms Keeler, who has described in her autobiography how she used to attend high society dinner parties ending in sex romps, says she slept with both Mr Profumo and Soviet assistant naval attache Eugene Ivanov in 1961.
In 2003, Members of Parliament from across party lines called for Prime Minister Tony Blair to restore Mr Profumo to the Queen's Privy Council, a largely ceremonial honour he gave up with his ministerial job.
British media reports say Mr Profumo died around midnight in a London hospital after suffering a stroke two days ago.
I saw the movie about it ("Scandal"), and have to say, it was incredibly boring. I guess you had to have lived during that time.
Boring?
Not for Mr. Profumo I reckon.
Phew, talk about a blast from the past. I assumed Profumo died long ago. I was just a kid when this happened, but it's amazing how much publicity it got, even in the US. Just before the dawn of The Beatles is how I think of it, and under the most obscure PM of recent history, Sir Alec Frederick Douglas-Home. In fact, I don't think Douglas-Home is generally known for much more than the Profumo scandal. Well, that and being good at cricket.
I remember the scandal, too. I suppose this was about the time "television news" was coming into being. And this was the first sex/politics/cold war scandal they could sink their teeth into...
At least it involved a woman this time. (As some wag wrote back then.)
I remember this scandal also. I think there was another young woman involved. BIG news of the time.
I think he made amends. May he rest in peace.
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