Crisis Over Profumo Scandal

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30153, 10 June 1963, Page 11

Crisis Over Profumo Scandal

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, June 9.

The Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, will return to London from Scotland tonight to face the worst crisis of his political life over the Profumo scandal.

Criticism from prominent politicians in week-end speeches up and down the country foreshadow a hot Parliamentary campaign against the Government over the affair, the worst scandal in British politics for many years.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Harold Wilson, said at London Airport that his party was forcing a House of Commons debate when Parliament resumes on June J 7 to clear up the “background of rumour, innuendo and suspicion.”

“Very clear security risks are involved here,” Mr Wilson said. “But we have made it clear that we do not intend to pursue the question of personal conduct.” Mr Denis Healey, Labour’s defence spokesman, told a meeting that one of the things his party wanted to discover was “whether or not the Prime Minister and his Cabinet knew that the Secretary for War was telling a lie when he told it to the House of Commons.” The Liberal Party’s leader, Mr Jo Grimond, said it was time Conservative politics were cleaned up. “The man who should go over the Profumo case is the Prime Minister. He cannot escape responsibility and no doubt would not want to shirk it.” Conservative Criticism

A Conservative member of Parliament, Mr John Cordle, told a meeting that “we cannot afford to have bad security risks in high office in this country. “For that reason, men who choose to live in adultery, men who are homosexual, or men whose moral influence is against the highest interests of the nation ought not to be appointed to serve our Queen and country,” he said. "We have all been shocked this week by the belated disclosures of a Cabinet Minister's deceit and misconduct and we are sorry that so able a man should fall in this way. “As Conservatives we deplore the failure of the Chief Whip to deal with the type of problem I have mentioned. More than one Conservative member has lost confidence in him,” he said. Press Comment

The political correspondent of the “Sunday Citizen,” which supports the Labour Party, said he believed Mr Macmillan's “effective leadership of the Tory Party is over.”

The political correspondent of the “Sunday Telegraph”

said a grave personal crisis of confidence faced Mr Macmillan on his return. He would receive reports of deep concern among back-bench members of Parliament and Government Ministers.

The newspaper said editorially that when Parliament discusses its worst scandal in living memory, Mr Macmillan could expect to be asked: “Did you not know or did you not care?”

The “Sunday Times” said: “The Prime Minister’s personal position is exposed to severe new strains as a result of the Profumo scandal. “Many Conservatives who have never been connected with the anti-leadership groups feel strongly that the affair has brought discredit and humiliation to the whole Government, as well as inflicting serious injury to their party.” The political con-respondent of the “Observer” said the Labour Party was determined “to squeeze the maximum political advantage out of the Profumo case.”

The correspondent said the Profumo affair “has left the Conservatives more shaken, angry and worried than at almost any time since Suez.” "Mystery American”

The political correspondent of the “News of the World” said: “It is now known that a warning from American naval intelligence led to a security watch on the movements of the Russian naval attache, Captain Eugene Ivanov. “An American officer was seen to enter a West End flat subsequently visited by Captain Ivanov. On another occasion Mr Profumo was seen entering the same flat.” Christine Keeler was described in a front-page “News of the World” headline as “The Girl Who is Rocking the Government.” The copyrighted “confessions” of the 21-year-old girl “whose life in high and not-so-high society has set the world talking” began publication in the paper.

Alongside reports on the Profumo affair, several London papers yesterday published details of a Scotland Yard probe into an alleged vice ring.

The “Daily Mirror” said 200 persons, many of them young women, had been interviewed.

The “Daily Herald” referred to an alleged “high-class call girl racket.”