Killer admitted that she had fallen asleep once with Ivanov, but had no relationship. “With Profioum, he might have been a minister because he was a minister, but I didn’t understand how dangerous the situation was,” he said.
Profioum asked her phone, but she avoided him. However, with Word’s pressure, they went out for dinner and began a brief relationship. It lasted about a month and ended friendly.
Ward’s trial
Rumors were already in circulation, but everything culminated in December 1962, when a jealous lover of Killer, Johnny Ezkob, went to Ward’s house with a gun and shot the door. The media rushed, and against the backdrop of Cold War and espionage cases, the press began to connect the scandal to national security.
Killer fled to Spain. Ezkob was sentenced to seven years in prison, but Keller’s absence increased rumors.
Profioumus denied everything in parliament, but ten weeks later, admitted that he had lied and resigned.
“In my statement on March 22, I had assured that my bond was not guilty. With great sadness I must recognize that what he had stated then were false and I was mocked by you, my colleagues, and the House of Commons.
Please understand that I acted in this way to protect my husband and my family, who I also expelled, as well as my advisers. Eventually, they realized that in this deceitful act, it made me a guilty of serious misconduct. Although the rest against me they are not well founded, I still fail to continue a member of your government and the House of Commons. ” He mentions in his resignation letter, published by “Kathimerini” the following day.
A few days later, Ward was arrested and charged with lash. In court, both the Killer as well as the Rice-Davis Word was presented as prostitutes as their promoter, with only “elements” some gifts from men and cash for the public.
The case has led to a political crisis. THE Prime Minister Harold McMillanby succumbing to political pressures, resigned In October 1963. He cited health reasons, although the case had already undermined his government. In the 1964 elections, the Conservative Party was defeated by the Labor Party under Harold Wilson.
John Profioumo retired all by politics and devoted himself to charity. Gevgeni Ivanov continued his career in the Soviet Navy. Steven Ward was convicted of lashing and committed suicide with overdose pills on the last day of his trial. Christine Killer was pursued by the British press and was sentenced to nine months in prison for falsehood during the trial of Lucky Gordon, one of her former comrades who attacked her and injured her.
Despite her efforts to build a new life, she never managed to get out of the shadow of the scandal. He worked as a cleaner and typist. He died in 2017, at the age of 75.
In 2001, several years after the events, she wrote her memoirs by providing information on the Profioumos case, whose validity was challenged by many.
The Profioumo case has inspired several films, documentaries, plays and books, as it is one of the most dramatic combinations of political scandal, sexual background and geopolitical intensity of the Cold War.
The film Scandal (1989) with John Hurt (Stephen Ward), Joanne Whalley (Christine Keeler), Bridget Fonda (Mandy Rice-Davies) is the most well-known cinematic imaging of the scandal. It emphasizes Stephen Ward’s personal tragedy and the role of the media. The film had caused a shock in Britain when it was released.
There was still the Trial of Christine Kelerer (BBC, 2019–2020), a mini -series of 6 episodes with Sophie Cookson as Christine Keeler, James Norton as Stephen Ward.
The books “The Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward”, “Christine Keeler: My Story” and “An English Affair: Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo” but also the documentaries “Profumo: The Scandal That Shook Britain (Channel 5, 2020)” and “Scandalous: The Scandal: Profumo Affair (BBC Four, 2006) ».
The Propheumo scandal was much more than a personal tragedy. It was the end of an era, when the word of the politician was sacred and the elites lived in the untouched. The case paved the way for political skepticism, challenge and media with a new impulse.
Christine Killer, in an interview shortly before she died, had said:
“People remember me for five minutes of erotic scandal. No one ever wondered who I was really. ”
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