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
Profumo affair would resign shortly, Macmillan announced his intention to stay on. On the eve of the Conservative Party's annual conference in October 1963 he fell ill; his condition was less serious than he imagined, and his life was not in danger but, convinced he had cancer, he resigned abruptly. His successor as prime minister was Lord Home, who renounced his peerage and served as Sir Alec Douglas-Home. In the October 1964 general election the Conservative Party was narrowly defeated, and Wilson became prime minister. A later commentator opined that the Profumo affair had destroyed the old, aristocratic Conservative party: "It wouldn't