Roger Hollis in 1956 and remaining in that post until his retirement in 1965. After Kim Philby's flight from Beirut to Moscow in 1963, rumours began to circulate that Hollis had alerted him to his impending arrest. Hollis was criticised for not alerting John Profumo, the War Secretary in Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, that he might have become entangled with a Soviet spy ring through his friendship with Stephen Ward, and his affair with showgirl Christine Keeler, who was introduced by Ward to Profumo. Soviet Naval Attache Eugene Ivanov was also involved with Keeler at this time, in the early
Christine Keeler This incident discredited the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan in 1963 in what became known as the Profumo affair. Keeler was alleged to have been a prostitute and although this was not a criminal offence in itself, Ward was found guilty at trial of being her pimp – a trial only instigated after the embarrassment caused to the government. Keeler was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex. Her father, Colin Keeler (later known as Colin King), abandoned the family during World War II. She was brought up by her mother, Julie Ellen Payne, and stepfather, Edward Huish, in a house made from