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
Selwyn Lloyd West England. At Huddersfield he had to give a non-committal reply when Andrew Alexander, then City Editor of "The Yorkshire Post", attacked Macmillan's profligate economic policy. His report, urging the proper provision of paid agents in marginal seats, was published in June 1963 so was overshadowed by the Profumo scandal. Lloyd asked John Profumo whether he had had an affair with Christine Keeler, and passed on his denial to Macmillan, adding his own opinion that he did not see how "Jack" could have had the time. After Macmillan's impending resignation was announced in October 1963, Lloyd was one of those