Profumo affair Party was marked by the scandal, which may have contributed to its defeat by the Labour Party in the 1964 general election. When the Profumo–Keeler affair was first revealed, public interest was heightened by reports that Keeler may have been simultaneously involved with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché, thereby creating a possible security risk. Keeler knew both Profumo and Ivanov through her friendship with Stephen Ward, an osteopath and socialite who had taken her under his wing. The exposure of the affair generated rumours of other scandals, and drew official attention to the activities of Ward, who was
Christine Keeler her relationship with Profumo ended, Keeler was sexually involved with several partners, including jazz singer Aloysius "Lucky" Gordon and jazz promoter Johnny Edgecombe. There was considerable jealousy between the two men; in one quarrel, Edgecombe slashed Gordon's face with a knife. When Keeler ended the relationship with Edgecombe, in December 1962, he turned up at Ward's house in Wimpole Mews, where she was temporarily seeking refuge, and fired five shots at the building. His arrest and subsequent trial brought Keeler to public attention and provided the impetus from which the scandal known as the "Profumo affair" developed. After initially denying