A very English Scandal

Exactly ME & Gill

I gather you didn’t watch the programme AB or you would have seen the judges summing up, which was a direct transcript from the trial.

You’ve just described a scenario of exploitation ab.

Keeler chose to move to London, chose to be a topless hostess, had affairs with several men, went to a weekend party met Profumo had an affair for a few weeks whilst living with Ward and having an affair with the Russian . The press got wind of the affair, found she was also having an affair with the Russian and printed it,

Where was she exploited ?

"How were Keeler and Rice Davies victims?"
Because, as trisher says, they were young and vulnerable and exploited.

How were Keeler and Rice Davies victims?

How anyone, particularly another woman could believe that CK and MRD were not victims is simply beyond me ( and NS). So many scandals over the years involve rich powerful well connected men who use and abuse young women, boys and young men and are protected from the full consequences of their actions by the whole Establishment

Keeler was 19 and Rice Davies 17 when they first met Profumo so both very young. Scott was kept and housed by Thorpe and therefore could be regarded as a prostitute as well. All three were young, vulnerable and exploited.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyos-M48B8U

Peter Cook's 'Biased Judge' sketch.

Keeler and Rice Davies chose their profession , I really do not understand how they are seen as victims , they were not dragged from their homes and forced into prostitution.

There are plenty of parrallels. Vulnerable and young working class people used and abused by members of the ruling class. The three Scott, Rice Davies and Keeler survived and made lives for themselves in very different ways, but the experiences they were involved in at very young ages must have had an impact.

No comparison between Keeler and Rice Davies with Scott. Keeler had an affair with Profumo , she didn’t end up in court because of the affair, he lost his job and she made money from a book and the Keeler in the nude on a chair photograph,

Nevertheless JT was finished as a politician and a social pariah. Sad times.

The judge and his summing up was parodied by Peter Cook.

He escaped a custodial sentence because his trial was a miscarriage of justice engineered by the Establishment at a whole variety of levels and in a whole variety of ways. The very choice of the judge for the trial raise many eyebrows and his summing up was a travesty of justice and a disgrace to the English judicial system.

OldMeg, what was Thorpe found guilty of to escape a custodial sentence?

You're right OldMeg. The prejudice against Norman Scott and men like him, was staggering. His vulnerability in a 'relationship' with a man like JT wasn't acknowledged. It was re-framed as NS exploiting Thorpe's friendship, as icanhtb recalls in her post earlier.
The summing up by the Judge is all that's needed to put this in its historical context.
Young women in a similar position as Norman Scott, would I'm sure have been viewed in the same negative, judgemental way. Christine Keeler, Mandy RiceDavies?

Disagree entirely Anniebach. The ‘Old Boy’ network worked perfectly to protect Thorpe even though his reputation was in tatters he escaped a custodial sentence.

By contrast Scott’s life was made almost impossible by his lack of a NI Card and because he was a ‘nobody’ in the eyes of Thorpe and his cronies, and a similar stance by the police when he tried to go through legal channels, he was powerless. He took the only option left open him which resulted in an innocent dog losing its life and a near miss for Scott himself.

It’s nothing really to do with being Gay but more to do with the power wielded by the likes of Thorpe.

I wonder where that interpretation came from?

On the subject of the National Insurance Card, I took this part of the story to highlight how fixated and vulnerable Scott was. I saw the first episode and bits of the second but my DH didn't want to watch it so we headed for Dave...again. I will watch it though when he is not around.
I think it is difficult to imagine just how terrible a thing homosexuality was seen to be for a man of the establishment (even though it seems to have been rife) and it is hard to see how desperate JT must have been. That isn't to say it was excusable to try to murder anybody but in those days homosexuality was still thought to be akin to paedophilia in the minds of the many of the electorate.
I was only a spring chicken in those days but I got the definite impression from the talk I heard (in our lowly, down trodden, underclass) that JT had been targeted by a Walter Mitty type and the whole thing was a smear campaign.

It was due to originally be aired just after the verdict - but when he was acquitted the BBC pulled the programme and said all copies should be destroyed but Tom Mangold managed to keep a tape and then transfer it to a DVD which survived his dog trying to eat it!

I didn’t watch the drama, the writer said he knew Scott and wanted to put Scott’s story forward, I didn’t think it was fair for one to speak whilst the other was dead.

I do feel sorry for Thorpe, being Gay would have ruined his career and possibly a prison sentence. When homosexuality was legalised it didn’t mean Gays could just come out and all would be well. Years of hiding one’s sexuality must have caused much damage to a man.

No indeed BlueBelle as I understand it was made years ago but never screened.
I wonder why, BBC? ??

I watched the documentary after the drama MawBroon which I presume was not fictitious

“Aim” not “sim”

You would be right to “guess”:that not only was Shakespeare less than historically accurate but had the twofold sim of telling a good story while not risking the wrath of the powers that be, especially the King.
Ian McKellen is interesting on the subject
www.mckellen.com/writings/stage/700000r2.htm