 The principal landmark of Home 's term as Foreign Secretary was also in the sphere of east – west relations : the negotiation and signature of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963 . He got on well with his American and Soviet counterparts , Rusk and Andrei Gromyko . The latter wrote that whenever he met Home there were " no sudden , still less brilliant , breakthroughs " but " each meeting left a civilised impression that made the next meeting easier . " Gromyko concluded that Home added sharpness to British foreign policy . Gromyko , Home and Rusk signed the treaty in Moscow on 5 August 1963 . After the fear provoked internationally by the Cuban Missile Crisis , the ban on nuclear testing in the atmosphere , in outer space and under water was widely welcomed as a step towards ending the cold war . For the British government the good news from Moscow was doubly welcome for drawing attention away from the Profumo affair , a sexual scandal involving a senior minister , which had left Macmillan 's administration looking vulnerable . 
