In 1963, the British government collapsed not because of war or an economic crisis, but because of a scandal. At the centre was a powerful man, a young woman, and a plot that combined sex, politics, and espionage.

The protagonist was John Profumo, Minister of War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government. He was born in London in 1915. His father was an Italian-Sardinian diplomat and aristocrat, and his mother was English. He was educated at the best schools, joined the Conservative Party, and served in the British Army during World War II. After the war, he became an MP and served in Conservative governments, eventually being appointed War Secretary in 1960. His relationship with Christine Keeler, a young woman in the social circles of 1960s London, emerged. The relationship became explosive because Keeler also frequented Yevgeny Ivanov, officially the naval attaché at the Soviet embassy, ​​but in reality suspected of intelligence activities. In the midst of inter-bloc tensions, the revelation that a person was in contact with a British minister and a Soviet diplomat raised a serious concern: the risk of leaking sensitive information about the British government.

Profumo denied any improper conduct in Parliament, but that statement proved fatal for him. When the truth emerged, it was not only the sex scandal that overwhelmed him, but also the fact that he had lied in Parliament. In June 1963, he was forced to resign as War Secretary after admitting he had lied in the House of Commons. The scandal quickly widened, fueled by the press, and confidence in the Conservative government, and thus in the party itself, began to crumble. Prime Minister Macmillan, already weakened, resigned a few months later, marking the beginning of the end for a party that had been in government for 12 years. In the 1964 general elections, Labour prevailed over the Conservatives, and the government passed into the hands of their leader, Harold Wilson.

The Profumo affair exposed how a politician's private life could swiftly alter politics, toppling a minister, undermining a government, and sidelining the Conservative Party until Margaret Thatcher's rise in 1979.