Profumo honoured for charity work

The central figure in the Conservative sleaze scandals of the Sixties, John Profumo, will today be honoured for 40 years of charity work in east London.

Former Prime Minister John Major will go to Toynbee Hall to meet Mr Profumo for the formal opening of a new building named in tribute to him.

John Profumo resigned as Secretary of State for War in 1963 after he was shown to have lied to the Commons over his relationship with prostitute Christine Keeler. The scandal inflicted heavy damage on the government of Harold Macmillan.

His work since then among the poor of east London was recognised with the award of a CBE in 1975. And from today Profumo House, a new part of the Toynbee Hall complex, will stand in his memory.

In an interview today to mark the occasion, the former minister gave just a hint of the way today's Tory Party might go. Delivering an imaginary quote, he said: "You know, I met so and so, and he's a member of the Conservative Party - but he's really very nice!"

In the interview, with WF Deedes of the Daily Telegraph, Mr Profumo says that what he has learned above all from the past four decades is "humility".

He says: "If you define wealth in monetary terms, there's no hope for the future. It's only when you realise what you have to give that you become a real person."

He warns that society, in London and elsewhere, has become " compartmentalised". The result in the East End is: "The poor know nobody in the City and nobody in the City helps the poor."