GREAT BRITAIN THE PRICE OF CHRISTINE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON 
IN THIS COUNTRY ? SHOUTED THE DAILY MIRROR . AS IF 
ANYONE DIDN'T KNOW . WHAT WENT ON WAS JUST THE KIND 
OF STORY ON WHICH THE MIRROR THRIVES . ALTHOUGH IT HAD 
STARTED OUT MERELY AS VENERY IN HIGH (AND SEVERAL LOW) PLACES, 
IT GREW INTO A MAJOR SCANDAL THAT NOT ONLY SMASHED THE 
CAREER OF A PROMISING TORY POLITICIAN, BUT ALSO RAISED SOME TROUBLING 
QUESTIONS ABOUT BRITISH SECURITY AND ROCKED THE MACMILLAN GOVERNMENT . OTHERWISE, 
IT READ LIKE LA DOLCE VITA, ANGLO-SAXON STYLE . THE STORY 
FIRST EMERGED PARTIALLY LAST MARCH, WHEN ITS LEADING CHARACTERS BECAME PUBLICLY 
IDENTIFIED : RED-HAIRED CHRISTINE KEELER, WHO CAME FROM MIDDLESEX TO SLING 
HASH AT 17, AND AT 21 WAS THE WEST END'S MOST-CALLED 
GIRL ; JOHN PROFUMO, 48, THE ABLE WAR MINISTER AND MAN-ABOUT-MAYFAIR, 
WHOSE VIRILE CHARM PROVED SOMETHING OF A TORY ASSET AFTER THOSE 
HOMOSEXUAL SPY SCANDALS ,; AND DR . STEPHEN WARD, 43, A 
SOCIAL OSTEOPATH (AND SON OF THE ANGLICAN CANON OF ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL), 
WHO SAID HE LIKED HELPING ATTRACTIVE GIRLS OF HUMBLE BIRTH ADAPT 
TO " THE NEEDS AND STRESSES OF MODERN LIVING . " 
AFTER MONTHS OF RUMOR, A LABOR M.P . CHALLENGED THE GOVERNMENT 
TO DENY THE RUMORS OF A MINISTER'S INDISCRETIONS WITH CHRISTINE . 
PROFUMO'S FIRM DENIAL OF WRONGDOING, AND A DEMONSTRATION OF SUPPORT FROM 
PRIME MINISTER MACMILLAN, QUASHED THE STORY TEMPORARILY UNTIL IT BURST FORTH 
AGAIN LAST WEEK . THIS TIME PROFUMO RESIGNED FROM THE GOVERNMENT 
AFTER AN ABRUPT, ABJECT CONFESSION THAT HE HAD PREVIOUSLY LIED TO 
THE PRIME MINISTER, HIS COLLEAGUES AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS . 
COEXISTENCE . OF NOBLE ITALIAN DESCENT, JOHN DENNIS PROFUMO HAD EVERY 
QUALIFICATION TO REACH THE TORIES' TOP RANKS : HARROW AND OXFORD, 
FINE WAR RECORD, BRAINS, DRIVE, AND A BEAUTIFUL WIFE, MOVIE ACTRESS 
VALERIE (GREAT EXPECTATIONS) HOBSON . TOGETHER, THE PROFUMOS WERE WEEKENDING AT 
CLIVEDEN, FAMED COUNTRY ESTATE OF LORD AND LADY ASTOR, WHEN THEY 
WERE INTRODUCED TO CHRISTINE IN 1961 . ALSO PRESENT : STEPHEN 
WARD, WHO HAD A COTTAGE ON THE PLACE . THEREAFTER, VALERIE 
STAYED HOME WHILE JACK VISITED CHRISTINE AT WARD'S FLAT IN WIMPOLE 
MEWS . WHAT THE WAR MINISTER NEVER KNEW WAS THAT CHRISTINE 
HAD ANOTHER REGULAR VISITOR, EVGENY IVANOV, WHO WAS A SOVIET NAVAL 
ATTACHE IN LONDON . A ROUND-EYED OBSERVER OF THEIR COEXISTENCE WAS 
NYMPHET MARILYN ( " MANDY " ) RICE-DAVIES, A WELL-DEVELOPED 16-YEAR-OLD, 
WHO WAS ONE OF CHRISTINE'S INTIMATES . " THE FARCICAL THING 
ABOUT IT ALL, " AS MANDY TOLD THE PRESS, " WAS 
THAT, ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION, AS JACK LEFT CHRISTINE AT 
THE FLAT, IVANOV WALKED IN . " IT POSSIBLY SEEMED LESS 
HILARIOUS TO BRITISH MI-5 INTELLIGENCE AGENTS, WHO WERE SHADOWING IVANOV AT 
THE TIME, TO FIND THAT THEIR WAR MINISTER WAS UNWITTINGLY SHARING 
A BED WITH A SUSPECTED SOVIET SPY . THE PRICE OF 
CHRISTINE THOUGH THEY TRIED NOT TO BE SEEN IN PUBLIC, PROFUMO 
SOMETIMES TOOK CHRISTINE FOR DRIVES, SHE LATER RECALLED . " HE 
SHOWED ME THE WAR OFFICE, WHERE HE WORKED . HE EVEN 
SHOWED ME DOWNING STREET . " BUT IN TIME PROFUMO STOPPED 
SEEING CHRISTINE BECAUSE, SHE EXPLAINED, HE WAS " SCARED IT WOULD 
RUIN HIS CAREER . " COMRADE IVANOV WAS SHIPPED OFF TO 
MOSCOW, AND THE " MODEL " FROM MIDDLESEX, WHO HAD ACQUIRED 
A TASTE FOR JAZZ ON THE WAY UP, HIT THE BLUES 
BELT AND ACQUIRED A JAMAICAN LOVER NAMED JOHNNIE EDGECOMBE . BUT 
HE COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT HER TELEPHONE WAS FOR . " 
HE SEEMED TO THINK, " CHRISTINE COMPLAINED LATER, " THAT I 
WAS GOING TO LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER . " ONE DAY, 
JOHNNIE SHOWED UP WITH A GUN AND FIRED SEVERAL BULLETS INTO 
THE DOOR BEFORE THE BOBBIES BAGGED HIM . MULTIRACIALISM . AFTER 
JOHNNIE WENT TO JAIL, THERE WAS ANOTHER WEST INDIAN LOVER, ALOYSIUS 
" LUCKY " GORDON, WHO, IF ANYTHING, WAS EVEN MORE NARROWMINDED 
. IN APRIL HE BEAT HER UP . LAST WEEK, AT 
HIS TRIAL FOR ASSAULT, ALOYSIUS WAS SO UNGALLANT AS TO TESTIFY 
THAT HE HAD KEPT HER SUPPLIED WITH MARIJUANA, WHILE ALL SHE 
GAVE HIM IN RETURN WAS VD . " YOU CAN SAY 
THIS FOR CHRISTINE, " SAID A LEADING LABOR POLITICIAN . " 
AT LEAST SHE'S MULTIRACIAL . " THE SCANDAL MIGHT HAVE DIED, 
HAD IT NOT BEEN RESURRECTED BY STEPHEN WARD HIMSELF . SEVEN 
WEEKS AFTER PROFUMO'S DENIAL, HE TOLD THE PRIME MINISTER'S PRIVATE SECRETARY 
THAT THE WAR MINISTER HAD LIED IN COMMONS, THAT HE HAD 
INDEED HAD AN AFFAIR WITH CHRISTINE KEELER . WARD REPEATED HIS 
CHARGES IN LETTERS TO HOME SECRETARY HENRY BROOKE AND LABOR PARTY 
LEADER HAROLD WILSON . PROFUMO WAS CONFRONTED WITH THIS NEW ACCUSATION, 
BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL LAST WEEK THAT HE STARTLED TORY 
OFFICIALS BY BLURTING THE TRUTH ABOUT CHRISTINE IN A LETTER TO 
THE VACATIONING PRIME MINISTER, PROFUMO RESIGNED AS WAR MINISTER AND AS 
M.P . FOR STRATFORD-ON-AVON, CONFESSING HIS " GRAVE MISDEMEANOR . " 
SAID HE : " I CANNOT TELL YOU OF MY DEEP 
REMORSE . " MACMILLAN ACCEPTED HIS RESIGNATION, DESCRIBING THE AFFAIR AS 
" A GREAT TRAGEDY . " THEN PROFUMO AND HIS WIFE 
LEFT THEIR REGENT'S PARK HOME AND DISAPPEARED INTO THE COUNTRY . 
DILEMMA . THE SCANDAL HE LEFT BEHIND GOT LIVELIER EVERY DAY 
. CHRISTINE KEELER, WHO WAS BACK FROM A CONTINENTAL HOLIDAY AND 
SUDDENLY SPORTED A " BUSINESS MANAGER " AND A NEW ROLLS-ROYCE, 
ADDED MORE OFF-COLOR TO THE SAGA BY TELLING AND SELLING HER 
STORY TO THE PAPERS . " I WAS VERY FOND OF 
JACK, " SHE SAID WISTFULLY . " IF EVER WE MEET 
AGAIN, WE HAVE AT LEAST THIS IN COMMON BOTH OUR CAREERS 
HAVE BEEN RUINED . " MANDY CHIMED IN WITH DETAILS OF 
THE HIGH LIVING THAT HAD EARNED HER A JAGUAR, MINK AND 
DIAMONDS BY HER 17TH BIRTHDAY . AT ONE DINNER PARTY, SHE 
RECALLED, " A NAKED MAN WEARING A MASK WAITED ON TABLE 
LIKE A SLAVE . HE HAD TO HAVE A MASK BECAUSE 
HE WAS SO WELL KNOWN . / MEANWHILE STEPHEN WARD'S EXPLANATIONS 
FILLED THE NEWSPAPERS AND TV SCREENS . THE AFFAIR, HE PROTESTED, 
HAD GIVEN RISE TO " A WHOLE TRAIN OF RUMORS, AND 
ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE WERE MENTIONED, WITH THE IMPLICATION THAT I'D 
BEEN TRYING TO PROCURE THEM FOR MISS KEELER . " DESPITE 
HIS SUBSEQUENT ATTEMPT TO PROTECT PROFUMO AND THE GOVERNMENT, SAID WARD, 
HE HAD REPORTED PROFUMO'S LIAISON TO BRITISH INTELLIGENCE WHEN IT WAS 
AT ITS HEIGHT IN 1961 . SAID HE : " I'VE 
ALMOST HAD A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN . IT'S A TERRIBLE DILEMMA . 
ONE DIDN'T WANT TO BITCH UP ANYBODY . YOU OWE IT 
TO YOUR FRIENDS . BUT I MUST CLEAR MYSELF . " 
FOR THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE, STEPHEN WARD WILL DO HIS EXPLAINING IN 
COURT . AT WEEK'S END SCOTLAND YARD PLUCKED THE OSTEOPATH FROM 
HIS WHITE JAGUAR SPORTS CAR AND JAILED HIM ON CHARGES OF 
VIOLATING BRITAIN'S SEXUAL OFFENSES ACT BY / LIVING WHOLLY OR IN 
PART ON THE EARNINGS OF PROSTITUTION . " UNREST . AS 
A MATTER OF POLITICAL TACTICS, THE LABOR PARTY DECIDED TO TREAT 
THE PROFUMO AFFAIR NOT SO MUCH AS A MORAL INDICTMENT OF 
UPPERCRUST BRITAIN BUT RATHER AS ANOTHER FLAGRANT EXAMPLE OF THE ERRATIC 
WORKINGS OF BRITAIN'S SECURITY SYSTEM . IF, ARGUED LABORITES, BRITISH INTELLIGENCE 
HAD KNOWN ALL ALONG THAT BRITAIN'S WAR MINISTER HAD SHARED A 
CALL GIRL WITH A SOVIET AGENT, WHY WAS NOTHING DONE TO 
BREAK UP A LIAISON THAT MIGHT EXPOSE HIM TO RUSSIAN BLACKMAIL 
? WAS MACMILLAN TOLD ? IF SO, HAD THE GOVERNMENT ENCOURAGED 
PROFUMO TO LIE ABOUT HIS DALLIANCE WITH CHRISTINE KEELER SOLELY IN 
ORDER TO AVERT A DAMAGING SCANDAL ? UNFLAPPABLE HAROLD MACMILLAN, WHO 
DID NOT ALLOW LAST WEEK'S EVENTS TO INTERRUPT HIS GOLFING VACATION, 
WILL BE ABLE TO PRESENT THE GOVERNMENT'S CASE WHEN PARLIAMENT RECONVENES 
NEXT WEEK . HE MAY YET, AS IN THE PAST, CONFOUND 
HIS CRITICS IN COMMONS . BUT THE AFFAIR MAY SERIOUSLY AFFECT 
THE TORIES' ALREADY SHAKY CHANCES AT THE NEXT ELECTIONS, WHICH MACMILLAN 
WILL NOW PROBABLY TRY TO DELAY . SAID TORY BACKBENCHER LORD 
LAMBTON : " THE HARM THIS WILL DO TO THE CONSERVATIVE 
PARTY WILL BE ENORMOUS . THERE HAS BEEN FOR SOME TIME 
A GENERAL FEELING OF UNREST IN THIS COUNTRY AS TO THE 
MORALITY OF THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT . THIS FEELING WILL BE IMMENSELY 
INCREASED . / 