Secretary of State for War

Lord Derby had, however, committed himself to the first deputation, and all he could promise to the deputation representing the Jewish masses was that, if the regiment distinguished itself in the field, it would then be given a Jewish title and a Jewish badge.

This deputation also obtained the War Secretary's sanction to the supply of kosher food and to the observance of Saturday as the day of rest.

Lord Derby also promised that, as far as possible, all Jewish festivals should be respected, and that Jewish units would, service conditions permitting, be employed only in Palestine.

How the battalions distinguished themselves and won a special Jewish name and badge will be recorded faithfully in the following pages.

And this is exactly what Ward and Keeler were doing over the weekend of July 8, 1961.

They were relaxing by the swimming pool when Lord Astor introduced them to two new guests, the actresses Valerie Hobson and her husband, War Secretary John Profumo.

Right off the bat, John Profumo was smitten with the young model, who was swimming naked when he first laid eyes on her.

Stephen Ward, on the other hand, was more interested in another one of Lord Astor's guests, a Russian diplomat named Yevgeny Ivanov.

Now we arrive at a contentious point in the story, one which has multiple versions, and we cannot say with certainty that any of them are completely true or false, whether or not the love triangle actually enabled the Russians to obtain sensitive information from Profumo.

Profumo.

The war secretary always denied it, even after the whole matter was discovered, saying that his conversations with Keeler were nothing but pillow talk and an independent inquiry that was conducted confirmed this.

However, a KGP report later obtained by the Americans claimed the opposite.