Profumo - the mystery remains
The death of John Profumo yesterday brings back vivid memories of the scandal that engrossed the nation back in 1963. It's hard to imagine today just what an impact the events had at the time. Today we learn about a new political scandal nearly every month (Jowell, Blunkett, Mandelson etc) but the Profumo affair was mega news. An impressionable teenager at the time, I pored over each new piece of salacious gossip and had a collection of newspaper photos of Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice Davies and co.
It's all a long time ago but two intriguing questions remain. The first is the identity of the 'man in the mask' who served naked at parties at Cliveden House, the home of Lord Astor. Was he a Cabinet Minister - perhaps Rab Butler or even Harold MacMillan himself - as has been suggested? The report into the affair by Lord Denning said no - but, in the immortal words of Mandy Rice Davies 'he would say that, wouldn't he?' Perhaps the truth is even more sensational. I've heard the Duke of Edinburgh's name mentioned as a candidate.
The second question is the apparent suicide of the gay osteopath and socialite Stephen Ward - the pimp in this affair - during his trial. Stephen Dorril in a book he co-wrote with Anthony Summers 'Honeytrap' claimed that Stephen Ward was "killed on the orders of MI5". The authors say that an unnamed MI6 officer told them that Ward "was deliberately given a drugs overdose" by Stanley Rytter, who is alleged to have worked for MI5. Dorrill and Summers further claimed in an article in The Guardian (3rd May 1988), that their MI6 contact told them that "Ward was a threat", and that there were "sex photographs, which could damage the Macmillan government and the royal family". A friend of mine, who knew Ward and others in the case, also believed he had been murdered. Maybe Ward just knew too much for his own good.
posted by Nick @ 1:30 pm
4 Comments
4 Comments:
I was aquainted with Ward via hid good friend Leonard Cheshire and modelling for med-students, and know he had amassed a million pounds, probably kept in a bankbox with the key secured by his solicitor. He and Peter Rachman (actually Ilan Ram'el) had a competition going as to who would be a millionaire first, and Rachman won, forcing Ward to fork over the 100 pounds bet! Ward also had a will which he revised several times during the 5 years I knew him. I suspect the solicitor kept the lot after Ward's death. So Ward could care less about the minor charges against him (despite all the hype Ward was never charged with espionage) he had a Green Card for the USA and money, he often talked of moving back there to run a race-car team with Paul Newman and paint. I suspect Ward was faced with the same situation as this Kelly guy, if he didn't kill himself the men facing him would do it for him. I have reason to believe Ward was working as a deep throat for King Olav of Norway and Lord Marks, looking for The Hess Files, documents Hess had with him when he dropped into Scotland. I'm in no doubt there's a smoking bomb here, worth killing for to smother it. We will never know what is in the Ward files kept under the Official Secrets Act until 2046, the files aren't in the archives. The Hess files had been removed and all traces of them erased -only luck had exposed them - so too Ward's files in my opinion.
Interesting that he was friends with Leonard Cheshire.
There is a blog site (Thanet Tatters) gradually recounting stuff about Leonard Cheshire.
His wartime career may not have been as popularly portrayed as he appears to be one of the pilots allegedly referred to as an "Idiot" in a Bomber Harris memo of 1944 confirming that the illicit use of IFF radar had betrayed bomber streams. (IE That Cheshire, part educated in 1930s Nazi Germany) had betrayed every bomber stream he led ....)
The blog (which is heavy going and should be read with a notepad to extract the history) mentions a Regional Crime Squad inquiry of 1972 which suspected that the care homes of Leonard Cheshire and Sue Ryder were somehow involved in identity acquisition for possibly the Catholic (Prince Anton Turkul etc) led "Vatican ratlines for escaping Nazi war criminals".
The Regional Crime Squad sergeant died and attracted a suicide verdict after defying Special Branch warnings to drop inquiry into Leonard Cheshire.
And at Leonard Cheshire's family home in 1972(the Sue Ryder Care Home at Cavendish) a hard working New Zealand Quaker volunteer Matron became concerned at appalling care standards and "The distance kept between the secretariat and care sides of the charity".
Matron McGill, like the RCS sergeant, died suddenly and got a suicide verdict.
The author of Thanet Tatters apparently survived a medical accident in Dec 1972 which caused cardiac arrest and three days in ICU. He was the young village copper who defied senior officers in the Matron McGill sudden death inquiry.
Thanet Tatters is his detailed account.
He was issuing proceedings against the Suffolk Chief constable in 2006 at the time the current ex Foreign Office Head of the Charity floated the idea of dropping Leonard Cheshire's name from the charity title.
The Suffolk Chief constable aged 53 announced his retirement about one month after winning summary judgement on limitation to stop the ex village copper taking him on to High Court
Did he jump or was he pushed as the ex village copper was moving towards changing the civil action to misconduct in public office and treason.
Treason being to undermine the Queen as fount of Justice.
Police bend their knee to no man but Judge in Open Court.
The ex village copper refuses to bend his knee.
But is he right that Chief constables too readily use their tongues to lick up to Intelligence Services requirements ?
From what is on the blog so far I have no doubt that, if Attorney General would allow access to the High Court, he would quash the 1972 suicide verdict. And I think that judgement would open a whole can of postwar charity and Vatican ratline worms.
Perhaps Stephen Ward had dangerous friends.
And perhaps there was another "Hess" incident. Try Werner Bartells ...
Alistair McWhirter announced his intention to retire as Suffolk Chief constable in October 2006
Hallo, it is I, 'anonymous', again. I, too, have read the suggestions noted here, regarding Leonard Cheshire, as I'm researching the events of those days, and the people involved, and only have the www as help.
I find the thought of Cheshire and Ryder working to help hide Nazi war-criminals a trifle hard to believe, as well as they hoarding huge sums of money. It does not equate with the lovely people I knew so well, who went without food, clothes, and the pleasures of life, so their patients could eat. What, exactly, would Cheshire's agenda have been if he WAS working undercover for the intelligence services, pinching identities for them to use? I simply don't understand it.
Cheshire did indeed know a German family of high birth, he was sent there on holidays to teach the kids English. He spoke German, but not fluently. He bombed Berlin, and his friends, with gusto - "That's life, there's a war on." - and they knew enough to know he was in the Oxford University flying-club and probably up there dropping the bombs, some survived and even they said, "That's life."
Cheshire did indeed expose his plane to let the Germans know where he was, his crew told me, "Typical bloody Chesh," they growled. He did this to draw the fire from the other bombers, he flying another route, knowing even with radar the nightfighters had a hard time finding a bomber they knew was there, let alone shoot it down. His crew didn't really mind, they knew they were the best and NO blasted fighter was going to get near THEM!
As to Bomber Harris not liking him, well, Cheshire said it as it was, he could be very biting. He never liked carpet bombing, "It achieved nothing. Better to bomb more accurately with better bombs." Why he later flew for 617, they were into the fabulous Tallboys and Grand Slams, which did exactly what he proposed. He and Wallis were on the same wave-length. There was a 4-ton Tallboy designed to be dropped by the Mosquito, that was what Cheshire was after, Mosquitos dropped bombs on Berlin etc., without one single one being shot down, no need for huge, lumbering Lancasters and daylight bombing by the Flying Fortresses, with the horrific losses this entailed, Mosquitos flew as fast as any German fighter WITH the damn bomb onboard! And he knew you could dive-bomb a Mossie with pin-point accuracy, he proved this many times as a pathfinder. As far as I can recall they only made a few test-bombs, production wasn't allowed.
I can imagine Cheshire's response to this! Perhaps THIS is why Harris and others hated him! No, I rather think people are simply misrepresenting what he was doing, for whatever reason. I, personally, thought of Cheshire as a modern Jesus.
I'm now sure Stephen Ward trod on toes, perhaps accidently, during his undercover activities for MI5, when he perhaps uncovered a plot by Mounbatten to overthrow the Queen and put Philip on the Throne as King.
No, I'm not mad. I've recently seen it suggested on another website, semi-confirming my thoughts.
I'm sure Ward kept quiet before and during his trial as he was muzzled by The Official Secrets Act (rather risking 2 years in jail as a pimp, than 20 for contravening the Act) but actually awaiting the intervention of Roddy Sinclair, Duke of Caithness, officially the manager of the Balmoral Estate but actually VERY close to the Queen, a secret advisor. But it does seem Sinclair was uncertain as to what the actual score was, the charges against Ward seeming realistic ones, not related to the possible coups attempt, on proof of which he would have had to act and slap Mountbatten down, perhaps put out 'an executive order' on him (have the SAS take the bugger out, in clear English) thus clearing Ward.
The truth will out one day.
Part 1.
Hallo, it is I, 'anonymous', again. I, too, have read the suggestions noted here, regarding Leonard Cheshire, as I'm researching the events of those days, and the people involved, and only have the www as help.
I find the thought of Cheshire and Ryder working to help hide Nazi war-criminals a trifle hard to believe, as well as they hoarding huge sums of money. It does not equate with the lovely people I knew so well, who went without food, clothes, and the pleasures of life, so their patients could eat. What, exactly, would Cheshire's agenda have been if he WAS working undercover for the intelligence services, pinching identities for them to use? I simply don't understand it.
Cheshire did indeed know a German family of high birth, he was sent there on holidays to teach the kids English. He spoke German, but not fluently. He bombed Berlin, and his friends, with gusto - "That's life, there's a war on." - and they knew enough to know he was in the Oxford University flying-club and probably up there dropping the bombs, some survived and even they said, "That's life."
Cheshire did indeed expose his plane to let the Germans know where he was, his crew told me, "Typical bloody Chesh," they growled. He did this to draw the fire from the other bombers, he flying another route, knowing even with radar the nightfighters had a hard time finding a bomber they knew was there, let alone shoot it down. His crew didn't really mind, they knew they were the best and NO blasted fighter was going to get near THEM!
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