Great Britain: The Price of Christine

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS

COUNTRY? shouted the Daily Mirror. As if anyone didn't know. What went on was just the kind of story on which the Mirror thrives. Although it had started out merely as venery in high (and several low) places, it grew into a major scandal that not only smashed the career of a promising Tory politician, but also raised some troubling questions about British security and rocked the Macmillan government. Otherwise, it read like La Dolce Vita, Anglo-Saxon style.

The story first emerged partially last March, when...