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
Profumo affair persuade Keeler not to publish, the compensation she demanded was so large that Profumo's lawyers considered charges of extortion. Ward informed the "Pictorial" that Keeler's story was largely false, and that he and others would sue if it was printed, whereupon the paper withdrew its offer, although Keeler kept the £200. Keeler then gave details of her affair with Profumo to a police officer, who did not pass on this information to MI5 or the legal authorities. By this time, many of Profumo's political colleagues had heard rumours of his entanglement, and of the existence of a potentially incriminating letter.