John Lewis (British politician) John Lewis (British politician) John Lewis (14 December 1912 – 14 June 1969) was a British Labour Party politician, who played a major part in the controversial arrest of society osteopath Stephen Ward, landlord of Christine Keeler in the Profumo affair of 1963. After making a fortune in industrial rubber, Lewis was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the two-seat constituency of Bolton at the 1945 general election, and became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Postmaster-General. The constituency was divided in a boundary review for the 1950 general election, when he was returned as MP for the new Bolton
John Profumo tradition of respecting the private lives of British politicians, for fear of libel actions, was maintained until March 1963, when the Labour MP George Wigg, claiming to be motivated by the national security aspects of the case, taking advantage of Parliamentary privilege, which gave him immunity from any possible legal action, referred in the House of Commons to the rumours linking Profumo with Keeler. Profumo then made a personal statement in which he admitted he knew Keeler but denied there was any "impropriety" in their relationship and threatened to sue if newspapers asserted otherwise. Profumo's statement did not prevent newspapers