In 1963 a British sex scandal almost brought down Harold MacMillan's government when the Secretary of War resigned after a relationship with an expensive call girl who may have passed on British secrets to a Russian secret agent. Name these two people.

The political firestorm that engulfed Britain in 1963, known as the Profumo Affair, centered on John Profumo, the then Secretary of State for War, and Christine Keeler, a young model. Profumo, a rising star in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, began an extramarital affair with Keeler in 1961. The scandal intensified when it was revealed that Keeler was simultaneously involved with Captain Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet naval attaché, raising serious national security concerns during the height of the Cold War.

When rumors of the affair surfaced, Profumo initially denied any impropriety in a statement to the House of Commons in March 1963. However, weeks later, evidence mounted, forcing him to confess that he had lied to Parliament and subsequently resign from his position in June 1963. This deception, coupled with the potential intelligence breach through Keeler's connections to both a senior British minister and a Soviet agent, severely damaged the credibility of Macmillan's government.

The affair became a sensational public spectacle, drawing attention to the activities of Stephen Ward, an osteopath who had introduced Profumo and Keeler, and who also had connections to Ivanov. Although an official inquiry concluded there were no breaches of security from the Ivanov connection, the scandal deeply eroded public trust in the government. Macmillan himself resigned as Prime Minister in October 1963, citing ill health, and the fallout (Review) from the Profumo Affair contributed significantly to the Conservative Party's defeat in the 1964 general election, ushering in a new era of British politics.