11 Biggest Political Scandals of All Time

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10. The Profumo-Keeler Affair

Popularity Score: 18

We start our list with an affair that happened in the Great Britain. John Profumo was War Secretary during the government led by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Even though he was married, Profumo couldn’t resist the charm of a young and beautiful Christine Keeler, and he engaged in a sexual relationship with her. Although this relationship didn’t last long, it brought on serious consequences. The main issue was a suspicion that Keeler was also involved with an alleged Soviet spy, which raised public interest in this affair, and led to many questions being raised about the security risk. Profumo made thing even worse, when he first lied about the affair in the House of Commons (lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), and was later forced to confess everything. The consequences were his resignation from the Parliament and from the Government, as well as a Macmillan’s resignation from the position of Prime Minister. Although Macmillan claimed he was resigning because of health issues, the main reason was evident to everyone.

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