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The Profumo affair was a major scandal in British politics during the early 1960s. John Profumo, the 46-year-old Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler beginning in 1961. Profumo denied the affair in a statement to the House of Commons in 1963; weeks later, a police investigation proved that he had lied. The scandal severely damaged the credibility of Macmillan's government, and Macmillan resigned as Prime Minister in October 1963, citing ill health. The fallout contributed to the Conservative government's defeat by the Labour Party in the 1964 general election.
When the Profumo affair was 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 national 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 sex scandals and drew official attention to the activities of Ward, who was charged with a series of immorality offences. Perceiving himself as a scapegoat for the misdeeds of others, Ward suicide during the final stages of his trial, which found him guilty of living off the immoral earnings of Keeler and her friend Mandy Rice-Davies.
An inquiry into the Profumo affair by a senior judge, Lord Denning, assisted by a senior civil servant, T. A. Critchley, concluded that there had been no breaches of security arising from the Ivanov connection. Denning's report was later described as superficial and unsatisfactory. Profumo subsequently worked as a volunteer at Toynbee Hall, an East London charitable trust. By 1975 he had been officially rehabilitated, although he did not return to public life. He died, honoured and respected, in 2006. By contrast, Keeler found it difficult to escape the negative image attached to her by press, law, and parliament throughout the scandal. In various, sometimes contradictory, accounts, she challenged Denning's conclusions relating to security issues. Ward's conviction has been described by analysts as an act of establishment revenge, rather than serving justice. In the 2010s the Criminal Cases Review Commission reviewed his case but decided against referring it to the Court of Appeal. Dramatisations of the Profumo affair have been shown on stage and screen.
In 1960, Macmillan promoted Profumo to Secretary of State for War, a senior post outside the Cabinet. After his marriage in 1954 to Valerie Hobson, one of Britain's leading film actresses, Profumo may have conducted casual affairs, using late-night parliamentary sittings as his cover.Davenport-Hines, p. 59 His tenure as war minister coincided with a period of transition in the armed forces, involving the end of conscription and the development of a wholly professional army. Profumo's performance was watched with a critical eye by his opposition counterpart George Wigg, a former Regular army.Davenport-Hines, p. 66Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 93–94
Shortly after starting at Murray's, Keeler was introduced to a client, the society osteopath Stephen Ward. Captivated by Ward's charm, she agreed to move into his flat, in a relationship she has described as "like brother and sister"—affectionate but not sexual.Summers and Dorril, p. 88 Keeler left Ward after a few months to become the mistress of the property dealer Peter Rachman,Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 58–59 and later shared lodgings with Mandy Rice-Davies, a fellow Murray's dancer two and a half years her junior. The two girls left Murray's and attempted without success to pursue careers as freelance models.Irving et al, p. 35Knightley and Kennedy, p. 80 Keeler also lived for short periods with various boyfriends, but regularly returned to Ward, who had acquired a house in Wimpole Mews, Marylebone.Irving et al, p. 13Denning, p. 8 There she met many of Ward's friends, among them Lord Astor, a long-time patient who was also a political ally of Profumo.Davenport-Hines, pp. 100–01 She often spent weekends at a riverside cottage that Ward rented on Astor's country estate, Cliveden, in Buckinghamshire.Robertson, p. 20
Ward hoped to visit the Soviet Union to draw portraits of Russian leaders. To help him, one of his patients, the Daily Telegraph editor Colin Coote, arranged an introduction to Captain Yevgeny Ivanov (anglicised as "Eugene"), listed as a naval attaché at the Soviet Embassy.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 68–69 British Intelligence (MI5) knew from the double agent Oleg Penkovsky that Ivanov was an intelligence officer in the Soviet GRU.Knightley and Kennedy, p. 74 Ward and Ivanov became firm friends. Ivanov frequently visited Ward at Wimpole Mews, where he met Keeler and Rice-Davies, and sometimes joined Ward's weekend parties at Cliveden.
MI5 considered Ivanov a potential defector and sought Ward's help to this end, providing him with a case officer known as "Woods".Robertson, pp. 20–21Summers and Dorril, pp. 24 and 123 Ward was later used by the Foreign Office as a backchannel, through Ivanov, to the Soviet Union,Robertson, p. 166 and was involved in unofficial diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 105–12 Ward's closeness to Ivanov raised concerns about his loyalty; according to Lord Denning's September 1963 report, Ivanov often asked Ward questions about British foreign policy, and Ward did his best to provide answers.
The next afternoon the two parties reconvened at the pool and were joined by Ivanov, who had arrived that morning. There followed what Lord Denning described as "a light-hearted and frolicsome bathing party, where everyone was in bathing costumes and nothing indecent took place at all".Denning, pp. 11–12 Profumo was greatly attracted to Keeler,Profumo, p. 161 and promised to be in touch with her. Ward asked Ivanov to accompany Keeler back to London where, according to Keeler, they had sex. Some commentators doubt this—Keeler was generally outspoken about her sexual relationships yet said nothing openly about sex with Ivanov until she informed a newspaper eighteen months later.Davenport-Hines, pp. 248–49Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 86–89
On 12 July 1961, Ward reported on the weekend's events to MI5.Robertson, p. 25 He told Woods that Ivanov and Profumo had met and that the latter had shown considerable interest in Keeler. Ward also stated that he had been asked by Ivanov for information about the future arming of West Germany with nuclear weapons. This request for military information did not greatly disturb MI5, who expected a GRU officer to ask such questions. Profumo's interest in Keeler was an unwelcome complication in MI5's plans to use her in a honey trap operation against Ivanov, to help secure his defection. Woods therefore referred the issue to MI5's director-general, Roger Hollis.
The couple usually met at Wimpole Mews, when Ward was absent, although once, when Hobson was away, Profumo took Keeler to his home at Chester Terrace in Regent's Park. On one occasion he borrowed a Bentley from his ministerial colleague John Hare and took Keeler for a drive around London, and another time the couple had a drink with Viscount Ward, the former Secretary of State for Air. During their time together, Profumo gave Keeler a few small presents, and once, a sum of £20 as a gift for her mother. Keeler maintains that although Ward asked her to obtain information from Profumo about the deployment of nuclear weapons, she did not do so.Keeler, p. 126 Profumo was equally adamant that no such discussions took place.Profumo, p. 164
On 9 August, Profumo was interviewed informally by Sir Norman Brook, the Cabinet Secretary, who had been advised by Hollis of Profumo's involvement with Ward's group. Brook warned the minister of the dangers of being entangled with Ward since MI5 were at this stage unsure of his dependability. It is possible that Brook asked Profumo to help MI5 in its efforts to secure Ivanov's defection—a request which Profumo declined. Although Brook did not indicate knowledge of the relationship with Keeler, Profumo may have suspected that he knew. That same day, Profumo wrote Keeler a letter, beginning "Darling ...", cancelling an assignation they had made for the following day. Some commentators have assumed that this letter ended the association; Keeler insisted that the affair ended later, after her persistent refusals to stop living with Ward.Knightley and Kennedy, p. 89; Keeler, pp. 126–27
In July 1962 the first inklings of a possible Profumo-Keeler-Ivanov triangle had been hinted at, in coded terms, in the gossip column of the society magazine Queen. Under the heading, "Sentences I'd like to hear the end of" appeared the wording: "... called in MI5 because every time the chauffeur-driven ZiL drew up at her front door, out of her back door into a chauffeur-driven Humber Limited slipped..."Young, p. 9, quoting from Queen Keeler was then in New York City with Rice-Davies, in an abortive attempt to launch their modelling careers there.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 103–04 On her return to London in September 1962, to counter Gordon's threats, Keeler met and formed a relationship with Johnny Edgecombe, an ex-merchant seaman from Antigua, with whom she lived for a while in Brentford, just west of London.Davenport-Hines, p. 258 Edgecombe became similarly possessive himself after he and Gordon clashed violently on 27 October 1962, when Edgecombe slashed his rival's face with a knife.Knightley and Kennedy, p. 117 Keeler broke up with Edgecombe shortly afterwards because of his domineering behaviour.
On the afternoon of 14 December 1962, Keeler and Rice-Davies were together at Ward's house at 17 Wimpole Mews when Edgecombe arrived, demanding to see Keeler. When he was not allowed in, he fired several shots at the front door. Shortly afterwards, Edgecombe was arrested and charged with attempted murder and other offences.Robertson, pp. 29–30 In brief press accounts, Keeler was described as "a free-lance model" and "Miss Marilyn Davies" as "an actress".Knightley and Kennedy, p. 121 In the wake of the incident, Keeler began to talk indiscreetly about Ward, Profumo, Ivanov and the Edgecombe shooting. Among those to whom she told her story was John Lewis, a former Labour MP whom she had met by chance in a night club. Lewis, a long-standing enemy of Ward, passed the information to Wigg, his one-time parliamentary colleague, who began his own investigation.Irving et al, pp. 76–78
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.Parris, p. 159 By this time, many of Profumo's political colleagues had heard rumours of his entanglement, and of the existence of a potentially incriminating letter. Nevertheless, his denials were accepted by the government's principal law officers and the Conservative Chief Whip, although with some private scepticism.Davenport-Hines, pp. 264–67 Macmillan, mindful of the injustice done to Galbraith on the basis of rumours, was determined to support his minister and took no action.
Edgecombe's trial began on 14 March but Keeler, one of the Crown's key witnesses, was missing. She had, without informing the court, gone to Francoist Spain, although at this stage her whereabouts were unknown. Her unexplained absence caused a press sensation.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 149–50 Every newspaper knew the rumours linking Keeler with Profumo, but refrained from reporting any direct connection; in the wake of the Radcliffe inquiry they were, in Wigg's later words, "willing to wound but afraid to strike".Young, pp. 14–15 They could only hint, by front-page juxtapositions of stories and photographs, that Profumo might be connected to Keeler's disappearance.Irving et al, p. 90 Despite Keeler's absence the judge proceeded with the case; Edgecombe was found guilty on a lesser charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment. A few days after the trial, on 21 March, the satirical magazine Private Eye printed the most detailed summary so far of the rumours, with the main characters lightly disguised: "Mr James Montesi", "Miss Gaye Funloving", "Dr Spook" and "Vladimir Bolokhov".
At the conclusion of the debate, the government's law officers and Chief Whip agreed that Profumo should assert his innocence in a personal statement to the House. Such statements are, by long-standing tradition, made on the particular honour of the member and are accepted by the House without question.Young, p. 17 In the early hours of 22 March Profumo and his lawyers met with ministers and together agreed on an appropriate wording. Later that morning Profumo made his statement to a crowded House. He acknowledged friendships with Keeler and Ward, the former of whom, he said, he had last seen in December 1961. He had met "a Mr Ivanov" twice, also in 1961. He stated: "There was no impropriety whatsoever in my acquaintanceship with Miss Keeler", and added: "I shall not hesitate to issue writs for libel and slander if scandalous allegations are made or repeated outside the House." That afternoon, Profumo was photographed at Sandown Park Racecourse in the company of the Queen Mother.Davenport-Hines, pp. 276–77
While the matter was officially considered closed, many individual MPs had doubts, although none openly expressed disbelief at this stage. Wigg later said that he left the House that morning "with black rage in my heart because I knew what the facts were. I knew the truth."Irving et al, p. 109 Most newspapers were editorially non-committal; only The Guardian, under the headline "Mr Profumo clears the air", stated openly that the statement should be taken at its face value.Young, pp. 18–19Irving, p. 111 Within a few days press attention was distracted by the re-emergence of Keeler in Madrid. She expressed astonishment at the fuss her absence had caused, adding that her friendship with Profumo and his wife was entirely innocent and that she had many friends in important positions. Keeler claimed that she had not deliberately missed the Edgecombe trial but had been confused about the date. She was required to forfeit her recognizance of £40, but no other action was taken against her.Young, pp. 20–21
On 18 April 1963 Keeler was attacked at the home of a friend. She accused Gordon, who was arrested and held. According to Knightley and Kennedy's account, the police offered to drop the charges if Gordon would testify against Ward, but he refused.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 170–71 The effects of the police inquiry were proving ruinous to Ward, whose practice was collapsing rapidly. On 7 May he met Macmillan's private secretary, Timothy Bligh, to ask that the police inquiry into his affairs be halted. He added that he had been covering for Profumo, whose Commons statement was substantially false. Bligh took notes but failed to take action.Davenport-Hines, pp. 287–89Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 177–78 On 19 May Ward wrote to Brooke, with essentially the same request as that to Bligh, only to be told that the Home Secretary had no power to interfere with the police inquiry.Robertson, p. 46 Ward then gave details to the press, but no paper would print the story. He also wrote to Wilson, who showed the letter to Macmillan. Although privately disdainful of Wilson's motives, after discussions with Hollis, the prime minister was sufficiently concerned about Ward's general activities to ask the Lord Chancellor, Lord Dilhorne, to inquire into possible security breaches.
On 31 May 1963 at the start of the parliamentary Whitsun recess, Profumo and his wife flew to Venice for a short holiday. At their hotel, they received a message asking Profumo to return as soon as possible. Believing that his bluff had been called, Profumo then told his wife the truth, and they decided to return immediately. They found that Macmillan was on holiday in Scotland. On Tuesday 4 June, Profumo confessed the truth to Bligh, confirming that he had lied, resigned from the government, and applied for the office of steward of the Chiltern Hundreds in order to give up his House of Commons seat. Bligh informed Macmillan of these events by telephone. The resignation was announced on 5 June, when the formal exchange of letters between Profumo and Macmillan was published.Davenport-Hines, pp. 290–91Irving et al, pp. 137–38 The Times called Profumo's lies "a great tragedy for the probity of public life in Britain"; while the Daily Mirror hinted that not all the truth had been told and referred to "skeletons in many cupboards".Young, pp. 25–26
On 9 June, freed from Profumo's libel threats, the News of the World published "The Confessions of Christine", an account which helped to fashion the public image of Ward as a sexual predator and probable tool of the Soviets.Robertson, pp. 52–55 The Sunday Mirror (formerly the Sunday Pictorial) printed Profumo's "Darling" letter.Young, pp. 28–29
In advance of the House of Commons debate on Profumo's resignation, due 17 June, David Watt in The Spectator defined Macmillan's position as "an intolerable dilemma from which he can only escape by being proved either ludicrously naïve or incompetent or deceitful—or all three". Meanwhile, the press speculated about possible Cabinet resignations, and several ministers felt it necessary to demonstrate their loyalty to the prime minister.Young, pp. 32–33 In a BBC interview on 13 June Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, holder of several ministerial offices, denounced Profumo in a manner which, according to The Observer, "had to be seen to be believed". Hailsham said that "a great party is not to be brought down because of a squalid affair between a woman of easy virtue and a proven liar".Young, p. 34
In the debate, Wilson concentrated almost exclusively on the extent to which Macmillan and his colleagues had been dilatory in not identifying a clear security risk arising from Profumo's association with Ward and his circle.Young, pp. 42–46 Macmillan responded that he should not be held culpable for believing a colleague who had repeatedly asserted his innocence. He mentioned the false allegations against Galbraith, and the failure of the security services to share their detailed information with him.Young, pp. 50–52 In the general debate the sexual aspects of the scandal were fully discussed; Nigel Birch, the Conservative MP for West Flintshire, referred to Keeler as a "professional prostitute" and asked rhetorically: "What are whores about?"Knightley and Kennedy, p. 195 Keeler was otherwise branded a "tart" and a "poor little slut". Ward was vilified throughout as a likely Soviet agent; one Conservative referred to "the treason of Dr Ward". Most Conservatives, whatever their reservations, were supportive of Macmillan, with only Birch suggesting that he should consider retirement. In the subsequent vote on the government's handling of the affair, 27 Conservatives abstained, reducing the government's majority to 69. Most newspapers considered the extent of the defection significant, and several forecast that Macmillan would soon resign.Knightley and Kennedy, p. 196Irving et al, pp. 175–76
After the parliamentary debate, newspapers published further sensational stories, hinting at widespread immorality within Britain's governing class. A story emanating from Rice-Davies concerned a naked masked man, who acted as a waiter at sex parties; rumours suggested that he was a cabinet minister, or possibly a member of the Royal Family.Parris, p. 168 Malcolm Muggeridge in the Sunday Mirror wrote of "The Slow, Sure Death of the Upper Classes".Davenport-Hines, pp. 306–08 On 21 June Macmillan instructed Lord Denning, the Master of the Rolls, to investigate and report on the growing range of rumours.Denning, p. 1 Ward's committal proceedings began a week later, at Marylebone magistrates' court, where the Crown's evidence was fully reported in the press.Robertson, pp. 55–64 Ward was committed for trial on charges of "living off the earnings of prostitution" and "procuration of girl under twenty-one", and released on bail.Summers and Dorril, p. 281
With the Ward case now sub judice, the press pursued related stories. The People reported that Scotland Yard had begun an inquiry, in parallel with Denning's, into "homosexual practices as well as sexual laxity" among civil servants, military officers and MPs.Davenport-Hines, p. 311 On 24 June the Daily Mirror, under a banner heading "Prince Philip and the Profumo Scandal", dismissed what it termed the "foul rumour" that the prince had been involved in the affair, without disclosing the nature of the rumour.Parris, p. 169Davenport-Hines, p. 344
Ward's trial began at the Old Bailey on 28 July. He was charged with living off the earnings of Keeler, Rice-Davies and two other prostitutes, and with procuring women under 21 to have sex with other persons.Irving, pp. 193–94 The thrust of the prosecution's case related to Keeler and Rice-Davies, and turned on whether the small contributions to household expenses or loan repayments they had given to Ward while living with him amounted to his living off their prostitution. Ward's approximate income at the time, from his practice and from his portraiture, had been around £5,500 a year, a substantial sum at that time.Robertson, pp. 80–81 In his speeches and examination of witnesses, the prosecuting counsel Mervyn Griffith-Jones portrayed Ward as representing "the very depths of lechery and depravity".Davenport-Hines, p. 324 The judge, Sir Archie Marshall, was equally hostile, drawing particular attention to the fact that none of Ward's supposed society friends had been prepared to speak up for him.Knightley and Kennedy, p. 243 Towards the end of the trial, news came that Gordon's conviction for assault had been overturned; Marshall did not disclose to the jury that Gordon's witnesses had turned up and testified that Keeler, a key prosecution witness against Ward, had given false evidence at Gordon's trial.Robertson, pp. 92–95 and 101
After listening to Marshall's damning summing-up, on the evening of 30 July Ward took an overdose of sleeping tablets and was taken to hospital. On the next day, he was found guilty in absentia on the charges relating to Keeler and Rice-Davies, and acquitted on the other counts. Sentence was postponed until Ward was fit to appear, but on 3 August he died without regaining consciousness.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 243–47 On 9 August, a coroner's jury ruled Ward's death as suicide by barbiturate poisoning,Knightley and Kennedy, p. 247 though some biographers consider the possibility that he was murdered.
After the Denning Report, in defiance of general expectations that he would resign shortly, Macmillan announced his intention to stay on.Clark, pp. 324–25 On the eve of the Conservative Party's annual party 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.Davenport-Hines, pp. 333–34 Macmillan's successor as prime minister was Lord Home, who renounced his peerage and served as Sir Alec Douglas-Home.Davenport-Hines, p. 336 In the October 1964 general election the Conservative Party was narrowly defeated, and Wilson became prime minister.Knightley and Kennedy, pp. 257–58 A later commentator opined that the Profumo affair had destroyed the old, aristocratic Conservative Party: "It wouldn't be too much to say that the Profumo scandal was the necessary prelude to the new Toryism, based on meritocracy, which would eventually emerge under Margaret Thatcher".Cooper, p. 310 The Economist suggested that the scandal had effected a fundamental and permanent change in relations between politicians and press. Davenport-Hines posits a longer-term consequence of the affair—the gradual ending of traditional notions of deference: "Authority, however disinterested, well-qualified and experienced, was after increasingly greeted with suspicion rather than trust".Davenport-Hines, p. 345
After expressing his "deep remorse" to the prime minister, to his constituents and to the Conservative Party,Irving et al, p. 139 Profumo disappeared from public view. In April 1964 he began working as a volunteer at the Toynbee Hall settlement, a charitable organisation based in Spitalfields which supports the most deprived residents in the East End of London. Profumo continued his association with the settlement for the remainder of his life, at first in a menial capacity, then as administrator, fund-raiser, council member, chairman and finally president. Profumo's charitable work was recognised when he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1975. He was later described by Thatcher as a national hero and was a guest at her 80th birthday celebrations in 2005. His marriage to Valerie Hobson lasted until her death on 13 November 1998, aged 81;Profumo, p. 286 Profumo died, aged 91, on 9 March 2006.
In December 1963 Keeler pleaded guilty to committing perjury at Gordon's June trial, and she was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment, of which she served six months.Knightley and Kennedy, p. 252 After two brief marriages in 1965–66 to James Levermore and in 1971–72 to Anthony Platt that produced a child each, the elder of whom was largely raised by Keeler's mother, Keeler largely lived alone from the mid-1990s until her death. Most of the considerable amount of money that she made from newspaper stories was dissipated by legal fees; during the 1970s, she said, "I was not living, I was surviving".Knightley and Kennedy, p. 256 Keeler published several inconsistent accounts of her life, in which Ward has been variously represented as a "gentleman", her truest love,Summers and Dorril, p. 310 a Soviet spy, and a traitor ranking alongside the Cambridge Five.Keeler, pp. 73–80 Keeler also claimed that Profumo impregnated her and that she subsequently underwent a painful abortion.Profumo, p. 204Keeler, pp. 123 and 134 Keeler died on 4 December 2017, aged 75.
Rice-Davies enjoyed a more successful post-scandal career as a nightclub owner, businesswoman, minor actress and novelist. She was married three times, in what she described as her "slow descent into respectability". Of adverse press publicity she observed: "Like royalty, I simply do not complain".Quoted in Profumo, p. 204 Rice-Davies died on 18 December 2014, aged 70.
Ward's role on behalf of MI5 was confirmed in 1982, when The Sunday Times located his former contact "Woods".Knightley and Kennedy, p. 253 Although Denning always asserted that Ward's trial and conviction were fair and proper,Davenport-Hines, p. 332 most commentators believe that it was deeply flawed—an "historical injustice" according to Davenport-Hines, who argues that the trial was an act of political revenge. One High Court judge said privately that he would have stopped the trial before it reached the jury.Levin, p. 85 The human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson has campaigned for the case to be reopened on several grounds, including the premature scheduling of the trial, lack of evidence to support the main charges, and various misdirections by the trial judge in his summing-up.Robertson, pp. 125–57 The Criminal Cases Review Commission, which has the power to investigate suspected miscarriages of justice, reviewed Ward's case starting in early 2014, but in 2017 decided not to refer it to the Court of Appeal after failing to find the original transcript of the judge's summing-up.
After his recall in January 1963, Ivanov disappeared for several decades.Summers and Dorril, p. 279 In 1992 his memoirs, The Naked Spy, were serialised in The Sunday Times. When this account was challenged by Profumo's lawyers, the publishers removed the offending material.Profumo, pp. 282–83 In August 2015 The Independent newspaper published a preview of a forthcoming history of Soviet intelligence activities, by Jonathan Haslam. This book suggests that the relationship between Ivanov and Profumo was closer than the latter admitted, alleging that Ivanov visited Profumo's home and that such was the slackness of security arrangements that he was able to photograph sensitive documents left lying about in the minister's study.
Keeler describes a 1993 meeting with Ivanov in Moscow; she also records that he died the following year, aged 68.Keeler, pp. 278–79 Astor was deeply upset at finding himself under police investigation, and by the social ostracism that followed the Ward trial.Davenport-Hines, pp. 284 and 305–06 After his death in 1966, Cliveden House which had been gifted to the National Trust in 1942 became first the UK campus of Stanford University and later a luxury hotel. Rachman, who had first come to public notice as a sometime-boyfriend of both Keeler and Rice-Davies, was revealed as an unscrupulous slumlord; the word "Rachmanism" entered English dictionaries as the standard term for landlords who exploit or intimidate their tenants.Davenport-Hines, pp. 148 and 316–17
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