Editing John Profumo (section)

== Political career ==
In 1940, while still serving in the Army, Profumo was elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as a Conservative [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Kettering (UK Parliament constituency)|Kettering]] in [[Northamptonshire]] at a [[1940 Kettering by-election|by-election on 3 March]].<ref name="LG 12 March 1940">{{London Gazette|issue=34810|date=12 March 1940 |page=1467 }}</ref>

Shortly afterwards he voted against the [[Neville Chamberlain|Chamberlain]] government in [[Norway Debate|the debate following the British defeat]] at [[Battles of Narvik|Narvik]] in Norway. This defiance on Profumo's part enraged the [[Chief Whip]], [[David Margesson]], who said to him "I can tell you this, you utterly contemptible little shit. On every morning that you wake up for the rest of your life you will be ashamed of what you did last night." Profumo later remarked that Margesson "couldn't have been more wrong".<ref>[[Lynne Olson]], ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bl86p8IbAt0C&pg=PA305 Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170423204419/https://books.google.com/books?id=bl86p8IbAt0C&pg=PA305 |date=23 April 2017 }}'', Macmillan, 2008, p. 305</ref>

Profumo was then the youngest MP and, by the time of his death, he had become the last surviving former member of the 1940 House of Commons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.steynonline.com/7754/facing-up-to-it|title=Facing up to It|date=14 April 2017 |access-date=23 October 2021|archive-date=28 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228230346/https://www.steynonline.com/7754/facing-up-to-it|url-status=live}}</ref> At the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 election]], Profumo was defeated at Kettering by the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] candidate, [[Dick Mitchison]]. Later in 1945, he was chief of staff to the British Mission to Japan. In 1950, he left the Army and, at the [[1950 United Kingdom general election|general election in February 1950]], he was elected for [[Stratford-on-Avon (UK Parliament constituency)|Stratford-on-Avon]] in [[Warwickshire]], a safe Conservative seat.<ref name="The New York Times 1963">{{cite web | title=Profumo Drama Nears Final Act; Stratford-on-Avon Voters to Fill Seat in Commons | website=The New York Times | date=1963-08-14 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/08/14/archives/profumo-drama-nears-final-act-stratfordonavon-voters-to-fill-seat.html | access-date=2023-01-13}}</ref>

Profumo was a well-connected politician with a good war record and, despite Margesson's aforementioned outburst, was highly regarded in the Conservative Party. Those qualities helped him to rise steadily through the ranks of the Conservative government elected in 1951. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in November 1952, Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation in November 1953, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in January 1957, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office in November 1958, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in January 1959. In July 1960, he was appointed [[Secretary of State for War]] (outside of the Cabinet) and was sworn of the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=41909 |date=29 December 1959 |page=1 |supp=y}}</ref> In 1954, he married the actress [[Valerie Hobson]].<ref name="Vallance 1998">{{cite web | last=Vallance | first=Tom | title=Obituary: Valerie Hobson | website=The Independent|location=London | date=1998-11-16 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-valerie-hobson-1185255.html | access-date=2023-01-13}}</ref>