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 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