Has the Significance of the Profumo Affair been Massively Overstated?
Has the significance of the Profumo Affair been massively overstated?
V13154
Sex and Society in Britain since 1900
Tutor: Harry Cocks
Student Number: 4065501
24th March 2010
Word count: 3,013
Has the significance of the Profumo Affair been massively overstated?
The Profumo Affair had all the ingredients of a classic sex scandal – “a clandestine affair, adultery, potential conflict of interests, second-order transgressions and a stream of revelations about the seamy underside of high society London in the 1960s.” It is no surprise therefore, that the story dominated the press and the public’s imagination in the summer of 1963. The Sixties were regarded as an era of decaying moral values and following the Profumo Affair a string of revelations exploded in the media highlighting corruption and scandal amongst the upper classes. Gerald Sparrow suggests that “although the Profumo Affair came as a bombshell to the public, it does, in fact, fit into [this] pattern” of change which had been going on rapidly for a decade. Pimlott further supports this in suggesting that “no real issue existed” apart from the “state of the nation in the age of affluence.” However, the press who played on national fears at the time following the Philby and Vassall scandals, have subsequently been criticised for sensationalising the affair and creating an inflated media scandal over something of little significance. Additionally, it is evident that historians have disagreed on the importance of the affair in both politics and in general British culture. Although, Weight believes that the scandal “destroyed the moral authority of Britain’s ruling elites” Gilmour and Garnett down play the importance of the scandal by referring to the affair as a matter of “puzzling triviality.” It is clear, nevertheless, that the story had all the ingredients for a national sensation and it could hardly fail to leak out however, its impact on British society as a watershed in political scandal
V13154
Sex and Society in Britain since 1900
Tutor: Harry Cocks
Student Number: 4065501
24th March 2010
Word count: 3,013
Has the significance of the Profumo Affair been massively overstated?
The Profumo Affair had all the ingredients of a classic sex scandal – “a clandestine affair, adultery, potential conflict of interests, second-order transgressions and a stream of revelations about the seamy underside of high society London in the 1960s.” It is no surprise therefore, that the story dominated the press and the public’s imagination in the summer of 1963. The Sixties were regarded as an era of decaying moral values and following the Profumo Affair a string of revelations exploded in the media highlighting corruption and scandal amongst the upper classes. Gerald Sparrow suggests that “although the Profumo Affair came as a bombshell to the public, it does, in fact, fit into [this] pattern” of change which had been going on rapidly for a decade. Pimlott further supports this in suggesting that “no real issue existed” apart from the “state of the nation in the age of affluence.” However, the press who played on national fears at the time following the Philby and Vassall scandals, have subsequently been criticised for sensationalising the affair and creating an inflated media scandal over something of little significance. Additionally, it is evident that historians have disagreed on the importance of the affair in both politics and in general British culture. Although, Weight believes that the scandal “destroyed the moral authority of Britain’s ruling elites” Gilmour and Garnett down play the importance of the scandal by referring to the affair as a matter of “puzzling triviality.” It is clear, nevertheless, that the story had all the ingredients for a national sensation and it could hardly fail to leak out however, its impact on British society as a watershed in political scandal
Bibliography: Primary Sources Lord Denning, John Profumo and Christine Keeler, (London, 1963) Macmillan, H., At the End of the Day, 1961-63, (London, 1973) Sparrow, G., The Profumo Affair, (London, 1963) Young, W., The Profumo Affair: Aspects of Conservatism, (Harmondsworth, 1963) Secondary Sources Cook, C., The Decade of Disillusion: British Politics in the Sixties, (London, 1972) Higgins, P., Heterosexual Dictatorship: Male Homosexuality in Post-War Britain, (London, 1996) Irving, C., Scandal ’63: The Profumo Sensation: Complete, (London, 1963 Knightley, P., & C Lamb, R., The Macmillan Years, 1957-63, (London, 1995) Marwick, A., The Sixties, (Oxford, 1998) Sandbrook, D., Never had it so good: A history of Britain from Suez to the Beatles, (London, 2005) Thompson, J [ 3 ]. Sparrow, Gerald, The Profumo Affair, (London, 1963), p.112 [ 4 ] [ 13 ]. Macmillan, H., At the end of the day 1961-63, (London, 1973) p.443 [ 14 ] [ 15 ]. Lamb, R., The Macmillan Years, 1957-63, (London, 1995) p.463 [ 16 ] [ 19 ]. Lord Denning, John Profumo & Christine Keeler, (London, 1963) p.96 [ 20 ]