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Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer
On a hot summer evening in 1961 a young woman was swimming in the pool of a grand manor house - Clifton in Buckinghamshire. Watching her was a small assortment of men, including a member of the House of Lords, a peculiar osteopath, and the British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo. Later, after some drinks and other pursuits, a Soviet spy also joined the mix at this very strange party. The cast of characters in this intriguing tale were drawn from two very different worlds - the inner circle of the traditional British establishment, and the brash, assertive 'New Britain' taking shape around it. These two worlds were soon to collide, first in the privacy of the bedroom, then in parliament and then on the front pages of the tabloid press. Nothing would seemingly be the same again.[1]
The soon to be named 'Profumo Affair' would effectively come to be the embodiment of the woes of the Tory Party in the early 1960's. The scandal itself increased in scope and intrigue as it brought in a Soviet naval attaché, Yevgeny Ivanov, a Jamaican jazz singer & gangster and the osteopath Stephen Ward; into the mix; thus increasing public knowledge and interest in the series of events. Profumo's steadfast denials of his involvement in improprieties and infidelity became ever more worn away. What had begun as the word of a call girl against a respected Government Minister, now saw the tables turned. Profumo finally admitted to the House of Commons that he had misled his fellow Members of Parliament and had lied to the press, the country and even his wife in denying the affair and the results of it. He subsequently resigned from the Privy Council, the cabinet (as Secretary of State for War) and from his parliamentary seat. He soon after showed up at Toynbee Hall, a charity based in the East End of London; as a volunteer cleaning toilets - he eventually became the Hall's Chief Fundraiser and by 1975 (when he was awarded a CBE) he had seemingly been rehabilitated.
The Tory Government and Harold Macmillan were seemingly disgraced and hopelessly out of their depths over the scandal; especially over their discomfort about talking about subjects such as a sex. Polls showed that Callaghan's Labour Party was sailing high in the opinion polls; newspapers such as the Labour backing Daily Mirror were hailing the fact that "we're now virtually assured a Labour Government by this time, next year." The Tory press was rather apocalyptic, with the populist conservative Daily Sketch giving a running count down until the end of the parliamentary term under '[X] number of days until Socialist takeover.' The press by this stage had effectively declared open season on the Tory Government. The Profumo Affair had effectively opened the floodgates to the press - to scrutinise and attack the private lives and even the individuals themselves; even Supermac himself. Macmillan, who had led the Tories to a historic election victory in 1959 was now at the whim and mercy of the pollsters and commentators in the press, who were all now predicting the end of his leadership and Government.
Supermac's health also appeared to be on the wane over the months; it was sometimes later reported that he believed himself to have inoperable prostate cancer, he in fact knew it was benign before a scheduled operation on the 10th of October. Macmillan was almost ready to leave hospital within ten days of the diagnosis and could easily have carried on, in the opinion of his doctor Sir John Richardson. Macmillan had been over the prior month discussing privately with his son, Maurice and other members of his inner circle about stepping down. The prostate troubles appeared to offer him a way out and indeed while recovering in hospital, he wrote a memorandum (14th of October) recommending the process by which "soundings" would be taken of party opinion to select his successor, which was accepted by the Cabinet on 15th of October. On the 18th of October, 1963 he received the Queen from his hospital bed, resigning finally in the eyes of members of his party. Macmillan however felt privately that he had been hounded from office by a small clique of disgruntled backbenchers, writing: "Some few will be content with the success they have had in the assassination of their leader and will not care very much who the successor is... They are a band that in the end does not amount to more than 15 or 20 at the most."
For the race to replace Supermac, four eligible suitors emerged to run for the party's leadership (which was to be decided by the 'Magic Circle' of the hierarchy of the Tory Party - and not the party membership as a whole.) Those emerging were, the Lord President of the Council & Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Hailsham; the Deputy Prime Minister Rab Butler; and the Chancellor the Exchequer, Reginald Maudling. The support each could hope to achieve was summed up by The Time: "Mr. Butler can no doubt be sure of a majority inside the Cabinet, where the main initiative must now be taken. Mr. Maudling, when Parliament dispersed at the beginning of August, could have commanded a majority among backbenchers in the Commons. Lord Hailsham, as his reception showed today on his first appearance before the conference, continues to be the darling of the constituency associations." In the same article, the Foreign Secretary, Alec Douglas-Home was mentioned in passing as a "fourth hypothetical candidate" who could be a compromise candidate, if necessary; he made it very clear he had no intention of serving as leader and took his name out of consideration for the race.
Butler was considered by far the most accomplished of the three men - having served in all but one of the four Great Offices of States (the office of Prime Minister being the elusive office); he was famously overlooked in 1957 in favour of Macmillan when Anthony Eden resigned. At the conference Butler gave an acceptable leadership speech - it wasn't the best, nor was it the worst - it was passable. This placed him apart from his two opponents.
Reginald Maudling, the newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by far the youngest candidate in the running. He intended to up Hailsham and Butler with an historic speech that would rouse the party membership and force the 'Magic Circle' to accept him as the popular choice of the party membership. If that was his aim - it feel flat on it's face. He delivered a well written and eloquent speech, but failed to electrify the audience - even many Maudling supporters were half asleep by the time he ended. And he was supposed to be the fun, outgoing Tory...
Lord Hailsham however outshone his two opponents with a great speech to the party membership; which earned him a standing ovation at the end. He was by far one of the more popular figures within the Tory Government and would be a great Prime Minister. Posters and placards with 'Quintin in '63' and 'Hailsham for PM' began to pop up around the conference hall - though these appeared to have been factory produced and not as spontaneous as they seemed initially.
So, when the 'Magic Circle' selected Butler as their candidate, nearly everyone was left scratching their heads. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Hailsham was seen as too brash, too exciting and too loose tongued for the Premiership - or perhaps it was the fact that Butler was at least a capable, if not, then safe pair of hands to take the party into the final run into the General Election. Unlike Hailsham, he was a Member of Parliament and thus did not need to run for a by-election to be represented in parliament.
The Tories thus had a capable pair of hands to take on Sunny Jim; the Tories were surely in a better position than they had been several months prior. After all their polls numbers had seemingly shot up a few points, denting Labour's impressive lead. Only time would tell if this was enough to snatch victory from the claws of defeat; or if Butler would be a mere footnote in history, along with the likes of George Canning and other Prime Ministers who served for less than a year in office.
[1]Abridged from 'Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain'
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer
On a hot summer evening in 1961 a young woman was swimming in the pool of a grand manor house - Clifton in Buckinghamshire. Watching her was a small assortment of men, including a member of the House of Lords, a peculiar osteopath, and the British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo. Later, after some drinks and other pursuits, a Soviet spy also joined the mix at this very strange party. The cast of characters in this intriguing tale were drawn from two very different worlds - the inner circle of the traditional British establishment, and the brash, assertive 'New Britain' taking shape around it. These two worlds were soon to collide, first in the privacy of the bedroom, then in parliament and then on the front pages of the tabloid press. Nothing would seemingly be the same again.[1]
The soon to be named 'Profumo Affair' would effectively come to be the embodiment of the woes of the Tory Party in the early 1960's. The scandal itself increased in scope and intrigue as it brought in a Soviet naval attaché, Yevgeny Ivanov, a Jamaican jazz singer & gangster and the osteopath Stephen Ward; into the mix; thus increasing public knowledge and interest in the series of events. Profumo's steadfast denials of his involvement in improprieties and infidelity became ever more worn away. What had begun as the word of a call girl against a respected Government Minister, now saw the tables turned. Profumo finally admitted to the House of Commons that he had misled his fellow Members of Parliament and had lied to the press, the country and even his wife in denying the affair and the results of it. He subsequently resigned from the Privy Council, the cabinet (as Secretary of State for War) and from his parliamentary seat. He soon after showed up at Toynbee Hall, a charity based in the East End of London; as a volunteer cleaning toilets - he eventually became the Hall's Chief Fundraiser and by 1975 (when he was awarded a CBE) he had seemingly been rehabilitated.
The Tory Government and Harold Macmillan were seemingly disgraced and hopelessly out of their depths over the scandal; especially over their discomfort about talking about subjects such as a sex. Polls showed that Callaghan's Labour Party was sailing high in the opinion polls; newspapers such as the Labour backing Daily Mirror were hailing the fact that "we're now virtually assured a Labour Government by this time, next year." The Tory press was rather apocalyptic, with the populist conservative Daily Sketch giving a running count down until the end of the parliamentary term under '[X] number of days until Socialist takeover.' The press by this stage had effectively declared open season on the Tory Government. The Profumo Affair had effectively opened the floodgates to the press - to scrutinise and attack the private lives and even the individuals themselves; even Supermac himself. Macmillan, who had led the Tories to a historic election victory in 1959 was now at the whim and mercy of the pollsters and commentators in the press, who were all now predicting the end of his leadership and Government.
Supermac's health also appeared to be on the wane over the months; it was sometimes later reported that he believed himself to have inoperable prostate cancer, he in fact knew it was benign before a scheduled operation on the 10th of October. Macmillan was almost ready to leave hospital within ten days of the diagnosis and could easily have carried on, in the opinion of his doctor Sir John Richardson. Macmillan had been over the prior month discussing privately with his son, Maurice and other members of his inner circle about stepping down. The prostate troubles appeared to offer him a way out and indeed while recovering in hospital, he wrote a memorandum (14th of October) recommending the process by which "soundings" would be taken of party opinion to select his successor, which was accepted by the Cabinet on 15th of October. On the 18th of October, 1963 he received the Queen from his hospital bed, resigning finally in the eyes of members of his party. Macmillan however felt privately that he had been hounded from office by a small clique of disgruntled backbenchers, writing: "Some few will be content with the success they have had in the assassination of their leader and will not care very much who the successor is... They are a band that in the end does not amount to more than 15 or 20 at the most."
For the race to replace Supermac, four eligible suitors emerged to run for the party's leadership (which was to be decided by the 'Magic Circle' of the hierarchy of the Tory Party - and not the party membership as a whole.) Those emerging were, the Lord President of the Council & Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Hailsham; the Deputy Prime Minister Rab Butler; and the Chancellor the Exchequer, Reginald Maudling. The support each could hope to achieve was summed up by The Time: "Mr. Butler can no doubt be sure of a majority inside the Cabinet, where the main initiative must now be taken. Mr. Maudling, when Parliament dispersed at the beginning of August, could have commanded a majority among backbenchers in the Commons. Lord Hailsham, as his reception showed today on his first appearance before the conference, continues to be the darling of the constituency associations." In the same article, the Foreign Secretary, Alec Douglas-Home was mentioned in passing as a "fourth hypothetical candidate" who could be a compromise candidate, if necessary; he made it very clear he had no intention of serving as leader and took his name out of consideration for the race.
Butler was considered by far the most accomplished of the three men - having served in all but one of the four Great Offices of States (the office of Prime Minister being the elusive office); he was famously overlooked in 1957 in favour of Macmillan when Anthony Eden resigned. At the conference Butler gave an acceptable leadership speech - it wasn't the best, nor was it the worst - it was passable. This placed him apart from his two opponents.
Reginald Maudling, the newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and by far the youngest candidate in the running. He intended to up Hailsham and Butler with an historic speech that would rouse the party membership and force the 'Magic Circle' to accept him as the popular choice of the party membership. If that was his aim - it feel flat on it's face. He delivered a well written and eloquent speech, but failed to electrify the audience - even many Maudling supporters were half asleep by the time he ended. And he was supposed to be the fun, outgoing Tory...
Lord Hailsham however outshone his two opponents with a great speech to the party membership; which earned him a standing ovation at the end. He was by far one of the more popular figures within the Tory Government and would be a great Prime Minister. Posters and placards with 'Quintin in '63' and 'Hailsham for PM' began to pop up around the conference hall - though these appeared to have been factory produced and not as spontaneous as they seemed initially.
So, when the 'Magic Circle' selected Butler as their candidate, nearly everyone was left scratching their heads. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Hailsham was seen as too brash, too exciting and too loose tongued for the Premiership - or perhaps it was the fact that Butler was at least a capable, if not, then safe pair of hands to take the party into the final run into the General Election. Unlike Hailsham, he was a Member of Parliament and thus did not need to run for a by-election to be represented in parliament.
The Tories thus had a capable pair of hands to take on Sunny Jim; the Tories were surely in a better position than they had been several months prior. After all their polls numbers had seemingly shot up a few points, denting Labour's impressive lead. Only time would tell if this was enough to snatch victory from the claws of defeat; or if Butler would be a mere footnote in history, along with the likes of George Canning and other Prime Ministers who served for less than a year in office.
[1]Abridged from 'Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain'
- Gonzo
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