Former Conservative Minister John Profumo dies

Former Conservative Minister John Profumo has died at the age of 91.

The former Secretary of State for War passed away peacefully at London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital around midnight last night, surrounded by his family.

He had been admitted to hospital two days previously, after suffering a stroke.

Mr Profumo was at the centre of a political sex scandal in the 1960s over his affair with call girl Christine Keeler.

The scandal, which broke out at the height of the Cold War, resulted in Mr Profumo resigning from the Cabinet when it emerged that he had lied to the House of Commons over the affair.

The affair caused a national scandal when it emerged that Keeler had also had sex with Commander Eugene Ivanov, a Soviet intelligence officer and the assistant naval attaché in London.

The events were made into a film, 'Scandal', twenty years later, which starred Sir Ian McKellen as Mr Profumo and Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler.

Mr Profumo's resignation in 1963 was followed by the downfall of the Harold Macmillan's Conservative government in the General Election the following year.

Following his resignation, Mr Profumo devoted himself to charity work in east London and was awarded a CBE in 1975.

Commenting on his death, former Conservative minister and journalist Bill Deedes told the BBC that he had atoned for his mistakes through his charity work. He said: "If that isn't considered to be sufficient atonement for the mistake he made then there is no such thing as forgiveness."

(KMcA/GB)