John Profumo, the man behind one of the most sensational sex and security scandals of the 20th century, has died at the age of 91 after suffering a stroke.
He died peacefully surrounded by his family, a spokesman for London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital said.
Mr Profumo began 1963 as Secretary of State for War and a rising star of the Tory Party - close to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, a favoured visitor at Buckingham Palace, a war hero and the dashing husband of film star Valerie Hobson.
But Mr Macmillan's Cabinet was shaken by call girl Christine Keeler's revelations that she had sex with both Mr Profumo and Commander Eugene Ivanov, a Russian intelligence officer and the Soviet assistant naval attache in London.
In March 1963, battered by parliamentary gossip, Mr Profumo delivered a personal statement to MPs denying any "impropriety whatever" in his relationship with Christine Keeler, claiming a platonic relationship had ended in 1961.
But on June 4th of that year, after rumours, accusations and denials rocked the Conservative Government, Mr Profumo was forced to resign when osteopath Dr Stephen Ward - the man through whom he met Christine Keeler - was arrested and charged with living on immoral earnings.
Following his departure from politics, Mr Profumo dedicated himself to charity work in the East End of London and was awarded the CBE in 1975.
PA