GREAT BRITAIN THE TIME OF THE TROLLOP " A GREAT PARTY, " 
CRIED VISCOUNT HAILSHAM ON TV LAST WEEK, " IS NOT TO 
BE BROUGHT DOWN BY A WOMAN OF EASY VIRTUE ! " 
BUT THE POSSIBILITY WAS REAL ENOUGH . IN THE HUSE OF 
COMMONS THIS WEEK, PRIME MINISTER HAROLD MACMILLAN WOULD HAVE TO CONFRONT 
CRITICISM FROM THE LABORITES, PLUS SOME BARELY SUPPRESSED DISSENT IN HIS 
OWN PARTY, OF THE WAY IN WHICH HE HANDLED, OR MISHANDLED, 
THE PROFUMO SCANDAL . IN THE LONG RUN, THE TORIES FACED 
AN EVEN MORE ELUSIVE AND INSIDIOUS THREAT THAN PARLIAMENTARY ATTACKS THE 
FACTS IN POLICE DOSSIERS AND IN THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PEOPLE 
WHO PERSONIFY CONSERVATIVE RULE . A LIE IN THE NUDE . 
THE WEEK LEADING UP TO THE DEBATE IN THE COMMONS CONSISTED 
MOSTLY OF TALK BUT WHAT TALK . CHRISTINE KEELER, THE CAUSE 
OF IT ALL, WAS STRANGELY IRREPRESSIBLE AND OUTWARDLY SERENE AMID THE 
TUMBLING OF FACADES AND THE CRASH OF REPUTATIONS . BLOSSOMING FORTH 
IN EVER MORE DAZZLING PHOTOGRAPHS SHE BECAME BRITAIN'S FASTEST-RISING FALLEN WOMAN 
. SHE WAS BESIEGED BY FILM AND NIGHTCLUB OFFERS AND INCORPORATED 
HERSELF AS CHRISTINE KEELER, LTD . SHE EVEN LANDED, UNCAPTIONED, ON 
THE COVER OF THE AUSTERE ECONOMIST . AS FOR HER MENTOR, 
OSTEOPATH STEPHEN WARD, HE WAS IN JAIL, BOUND FOR TRIAL ON 
CHARGES OF LIVING ON PROSTITUTES' EARNINGS . THE EVIDENCE, IT WAS 
WIDELY SUSPECTED, WOULD PROVE DAMAGING TO A GREAT MANY PEOPLE . 
ALTHOUGH THE LABOR PARTY CONCENTRATED ON THE SECURITY QUESTION, IN PUBLIC 
DEBATE THE PROFUMO CASE INEVITABLY TURNED INTO A MORAL ISSUE . 
SIGNIFICANTLY, THE UNPARDONABLE CRIME OF EX-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR JOHN 
PROFUMO WAS NOT THAT HE WAS INDISCREET AND A POTENTIAL SECURITY 
RISK, BUT THAT HE LIED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN 
INITIALLY DENYING ANY RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRISTINE . MOREOVER, HE LIED STUPIDLY, 
SINCE HE MIGHT HAVE SAVED HIS DIGNITY AND HIS SEAT AS 
AN M.P . BY ADMITTING HIS MISSTEP . AS A LIMERICK 
THAT MADE THE ROUNDS OF WESTMINSTER LAST WEEK HAD IT : 
" WHAT ON EARTH HAVE YOU DONE .? " SAID CHRISTINE, 
" YOU HAVE WRECKED THE WHOLE PARTY MACHINE . " TO 
LIE IN THE NUDE " IS NOT AT ALL RUDE, " 
BUT TO LIE IN THE HOUSE IS OBSCENE . / SERIALIZED 
SEX . THE LABOR PARTY RALLIED FOR BATTLE WITH ENTHUSIASM . 
RETURNING FROM A WEEK'S VISIT TO MOSCOW AND PLEASANT IF FUTILE 
CHATS WITH KHRUSHCHEV ABOUT DISARMAMENT, LABOR PARTY LEADER HAROLD WILSON HINTED 
HE WOULD PRODUCE NEW EVIDENCE THIS WEEK TO SHOW THAT BRITAIN'S 
SECURITY SYSTEM WAS BREACHED . HE HAD GOOD REASON FOR CONFIDENCE 
: THE DAILY MAIL'S NATIONAL OPINION POLL GAVE LABOR ITS BIGGEST 
LEAD EVER : 69.2 PER CENT TO 19.8 PER CENT OVER 
THE TORIES . ON HIS RETURN FROM A GOLFING VACATION, MACMILLAN'S 
FIRST OBJECTIVE WAS TO COMMAND A UNITED CABINET . CALLING HIS 
MINISTERS INTO EMERGENCY SESSION, HE ASKED EACH MAN TO OUTLINE PRIVATELY 
HIS OWN VIEW OF THE SITUATION . WITHOUT EXCEPTION, THE 21 
TOP TORIES EXPRESSED DEEP DISMAY AT THE PUBLIC'S LOSS OF CONFIDENCE 
IN THE GOVERNMENT . MACMILLAN WAS CAUGHT BETWEEN TWO ALMOST EQUALLY 
UNPLEASANT POSSIBILITIES . HAD HE KNOWN ABOUT PROFUMO'S DOINGS, AND IN 
THAT CASE HAD HE NOT CONNIVED TO SOME EXTENT IN HIS 
FALSE DENIALS ? OR, DESPITE THE WAR MINISTER'S LONG REPUTATION AS 
A WOMANIZER, HAD MACMILLAN REALLY NOT KNOWN ANYTHING ? IN THAT 
CASE, HAD HE NOT BEEN NAIVE AND NEGLIGENT WHEN HE ACCEPTED 
PROFUMO'S DEFENSE ? BED & BAWD . IN HIS OWN DEFENSE, 
MACMILLAN MAINTAINS THAT HE WAS FIRST INFORMED OF PROFUMO'S LIAISON LAST 
FEBRUARY . HE DENIES REPORTS THAT MI-5 BRITISH INTELLIGENCE HAD WARNED 
THE GOVERNMENT AT THAT TIME THAT ITS WAR MINISTER HAD SHARED 
BED AND BAWD WITH SOVIET ASSISTANT NAVAL ATTACHE EVGENY IVANOV . 
MACMILLAN INSISTED THAT HE HAD NO REASON TO DOUBT A MAN 
OF PROFUMO'S BACKGROUND (HARROW, OXFORD, INFANTRY) . MOREOVER, FIVE OF HIS 
MINISTERS WHO " SAT UP HALF THE NIGHT " OF MARCH 
21 INTERROGATING PROFUMO WERE ALSO PERSUADED THAT HE WAS TELLING THE 
TRUTH ; THE CLINCHER WAS THE WAR MINISTER'S READINESS TO DENY 
MISCONDUCT WITH CHRISTINE KEELER IN A SACROSANCT " PERSONAL STATEMENT " 
ON THE HOUSE FLOOR NEXT DAY . MACMILLAN'S STRONGEST ARGUMENT WAS 
THAT A SECURITY CHECK, WHICH HE ORDERED A WEEK BEFORE HIS 
FORMER COLLEAGUE'S CONFESSION, HAD TURNED UP NO EVIDENCE THAT THE RUSSIAN 
HAD SUCCEEDED IN USING THE PROFUMO-KEELER-IVANOV TRIANGLE TO PRY OUT SECRET 
INFORMATION . SOMETHING OF A CABINET MUTINY SEEMED TO BE LED 
BY HEALTH MINISTER ENOCH POWELL, 51, WHOSE DISTASTE FOR POLITICAL COMPROMISE 
LED HIM TO RESIGN FROM THE GOVERNMENT IN 1958 IN PROTEST 
AGAINST AN INFLATIONARY, VOTE-CATCHING BUDGET . POWELL'S FEELING THAT THE GOVERNMENT 
HAD ONCE MORE SHOWN ITSELF UNBELIEVABLY LAX WAS SHARED TO A 
LESSER DEGREE BY TWO MORE OF MACMILLAN'S ABLEST APPOINTEES, EDUCATION MINISTER 
SIR EDWARD BOYLE (WHO QUIT THE GOVERNMENT OVER SUEZ) AND HOUSING 
MINISTER SIR KEITH JOSEPH, AS WELL AS A DISGRUNTLED MINORITY OF 
TORY BACKBENCHERS, WHO COULD THEMSELVES OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT IF 20 OR 
30 CHOSE TO ABSTAIN THIS WEEK . BUT MACMILLAN'S ASSURANCES QUELLED 
THE MUTINY, AND THE TORIES MARCHED INTO COMMONS OUTWARDLY UNITED TO 
FACE THEIR GREATEST POLITICAL THREAT SINCE SUEZ . AN ATTEMPT TO 
FIND OUT THE DATE ON WHICH THE U.S . WAS SUPPOSED 
TO " GIVE THE H-BOMB TO WEST GERMANY, " SOUNDED MORE 
LIKE A PROPAGANDA PLOY THAN SERIOUS ESPIONAGE . FLASH OF INDIGNATION 
. THE OPPOSITION MAY YET SUCCEED IN SHOWING THAT BRITAIN'S SECURITY 
SYSTEM WAS IN FACT BREACHED, OR THAT WARNINGS FROM INTELLIGENCE FELL 
ON DEAF EARS . WHATEVER THE OUTCOME OF THIS WEEK'S COMMONS 
DEBATE, THERE IS A GROWING BELIEF THAT MACMILLAN WILL HAVE TO 
STEP DOWN EVENTUALLY AND MAY IN FACT HAVE PROMISED HIS OWN 
DISSIDENT MINISTERS TO DO SO ONCE THE HEAT IS OFF . 
LOOSE FACTIONS WERE ALREADY FORMING AROUND SUCH POSSIBLE SUCCESSORS TO MACMILLAN 
AS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER R . A . ( " RAB 
" ) BUTLER, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER REGINALD MAUDLING AND SCIENCE 
MINISTER LORD HAILSHAM . NO MATTER HOW ELOQUENTLY MACMILLAN MAY WEATHER 
THE PARLIAMENTARY CRISIS, THE TORIES SIMPLY CANNOT AFFORD TO BE TARRED 
BY CHRISTINE . WHAT THEY HAVE TRADITIONALLY OFFERED THE NATION IS 
MEN BORN AND RAISED IN THE EXACTING DISCIPLINES OF LEADERSHIP . 
IF NOW, IN ADDITION TO ALL THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REVERSES 
THEY HAVE SUFFERED IN THE PAST YEAR, BRITONS SHOULD CONCLUDE THAT 
ETONIAN AND HARROVIAN LEADERS ARE PERSONALLY NO WISER OR MORE UPRIGHT 
AND IN MANY CASES THEY HAVE PROVED FLAGRANTLY LESS SO THAN 
THOSE WHOM THEY GOVERN, TWELVE YEARS OF TORY GOVERNMENT MAY END 
IN A MIGHTY FLASH OF MORAL INDIGNATION MIXED WITH RIDICULE . 
