◆ SpookStack

- oo. ; —_ - . ¢ Prime Minister did have inquiries made of the Security Service. eo a a 25th April they reported their interviews with ‘Stephen Ward and the anaemia . Lbs waihing to Mr. Profume. They said: -. wey phase. “We have no reason to suppose that Mr. Profumo stands j in. ‘need of in connection with, Mr. Profumo’s alleged visits to Ward or to Miss Keeler.” 211. On 14th May, 1963, the Prime Minister replied to Mr. Wilson: “1 handed all the material to the appropriate authorities who studied it ve Ty carefully. There seems to be nothing in the papers you sent which requires me to take action.” 212. Mr. Wilson felt it necessary to pursue the matter further. On Monday, 27th May, 1963, at Mr. Wilson’s request, a meeting was held in the Prime Minister’s room in the House of Commons. Mr. Wilson said he was disturbed to receive the Prime Minister's letter, and that Ward was a self-confessed Soviet intermediary. He said that if the Government were not prepared to initiate any action, he would reserve the right to raise the matter in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister said that al] the materia] had been examined by the security authorities and they were satisfied that there were no unresolved security problems left over. He would however ask the security authorities to look again at all the material and position. 213. The Prime Minister did as he said. He asked the Security Service to look at it again. And on Wednesday, 29th May, 1963, the Head of the : Security Service reported to the Prime Minister and disclosed to him (what he and his office had not known before) that, “in a statement which Christine Keeler made to the police in January 1963 she said that on one occasion, when she was going to meet Mr. Profumo, Ward had asked her to discover from him the date on which certain atomic secrets were to be handed to West Germany by the Americans. It is understood that Miss Keeler denies having ever put such a question to Mr. Profumo ... I am advised that the evidence would not be likely to support a successful prosecution of Ward under the Official Secrets Act. He is not known to us to have been in touch with any Russian since Ivanov’s departure. The security risk that Ward now represents seems ta me to be slight.” : (v) The Lord Chancellor's Inquiry 214. On Wednesday, 29th May, 1963, the Prime Minister had a meeting with _the Lord Chancellor and the Chief Whip during which the Prime § t pp relevant papers: and on 30th May, 1963, the Prime Minister Mr. Wilson telling him of it: , = é. “I have been thinking about our talk on Monday. [ am sure WW my og own mind that the security aspect of the Ward case has been tally aad . efficiently watched, but I think it important that you should be in no doubt about it.. 69 further advice about security” and added, “ There is no truth in the story that the Security Service was informed of the dates of, or anything else