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John Stonehouse
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For those of a similar name, see John Stonhouse (disambiguation).
John Stonehouse
John-Stonehouse.jpg
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications
In office
1 October 1969 – 19 June 1970
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Preceded by Himself (Postmaster General)
Succeeded by Christopher Chataway
Postmaster General
In office
1 July 1968 – 1 October 1969
Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Preceded by Roy Mason
Succeeded by Position abolished
Himself (Minister of Posts and Telecommunications)
William Hall, 2nd Viscount Hall (Chairman of the Post Office)
Member of Parliament
for Walsall North
In office
28 February 1974 – 27 August 1976
Preceded by William Wells
Succeeded by Robin Hodgson
Member of Parliament
for Wednesbury
In office
28 February 1957 – 28 February 1974
Preceded by Stanley Evans
Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born John Thomson Stonehouse
28 July 1925
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Died 14 April 1988 (aged 62)
Southampton, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Political party Labour Co-operative (before 1981)
Other political
affiliations Liberal Democrats (1988)
Social Democratic (1981–88) English National Party (1976)
Spouse(s) Barbara Smith
(m. 1948; div. 1978)
Sheila Buckley
(m. 1981; death 1988)
Children 4
Alma mater London School of Economics
John Thomson Stonehouse (28 July 1925 – 14 April 1988) was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician and junior minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974.
More than twenty years after his death, it was publicly revealed that he had been an agent for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic military intelligence. In 1979, the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, and top cabinet members learned from a Czech defector that Stonehouse had been a paid Czech spy since 1962. He had provided secrets about government plans as well as technical information about aircraft, and received about £5,000. He was already in prison for fraud and the government decided there was insufficient evidence to bring to trial, so no announcement or prosecution was made
Faking his own death
Stonehouse maintained the pretence of normality until he faked his death on 20 November 1974, leaving a pile of clothes on a beach in Miami. It appeared that he had gone swimming, and had been drowned or possibly killed by a shark. He was presumed dead, and obituaries were published despite the fact that no corpse had been found. In reality, he was en route to Australia, hoping to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley.
Using false identities, Stonehouse set about transferring large sums of money between banks as a further means of covering his tracks. Under the name of Clive Mildoon, he deposited $21,500 in cash at the Bank of New Zealand. The teller who handled the money later spotted "Mildoon" at the Bank of New South Wales. Inquiries led the teller to learn that the money was in the name of Joe Markham and he informed the local police. Stonehouse spent a while in Copenhagen with Sheila Buckley, but later returned to Australia, unaware that he was now under surveillance. The police initially suspected him of being Lord Lucan, who had disappeared two weeks before Stonehouse; following the murder of his children's nanny, Sandra Rivett. Investigators noted that the suspect was reading British newspapers that also included stories attacking the "recently deceased" John Stonehouse. They contacted Scotland Yard, requesting pictures of both Lucan and Stonehouse. On his arrest, the police instructed him to pull down his trousers so they could be sure whether or not he was Lord Lucan, who had a six-inch scar on the inside of his right thigh
Stonehouse was arrested on 24 December 1974.[12] He applied for the position of Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds while still in Australia (one of the ways for an MP to resign), but decided not to sign the papers. Six months after he was arrested, he was deported to the UK; he had tried to obtain offers of asylum from Sweden or Mauritius. He was remanded in Brixton Prison until August 1975 when he was released and put on bail. He continued to serve as an MP. Although unhappy with the situation, the Labour Party did not expel him.
Stonehouse conducted his own defence on 21 charges of fraud, theft, forgery, conspiracy to defraud, causing a false police investigation and wasting police time. His trial lasted 68 days. On 14 July 1976, it was revealed in court that Stonehouse had an IQ of 140.[13] On 6 August 1976, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud.[14]
On 4 April 1976 Stonehouse attended a St George's Day festival hosted by the English National Party and confirmed he had joined the party, making Labour a minority government. He agreed to resign as a Privy Counsellor on 17 August 1976,[15] becoming one of only three people to resign from the Privy Council in the 20th century. Stonehouse tendered his resignation from the House of Commons on 27 August 1976.[16] The subsequent by-election was won by Robin Hodgson, a Conservative. In October 1976, Stonehouse was declared bankrupt.
Stonehouse was imprisoned in HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs. On 30 June 1977, the House of Lords refused him appeal against five of the charges of which he was convicted. Whilst in prison, he complained that the prison workshop where he worked played pop music on the radio station. When his health deteriorated, he was moved to Blundeston Prison. On 14 August 1979, he was released early from prison because of good behaviour and because he had suffered three heart attacks; the first on 18 April 1977; he had a second one four days later and a massive heart attack on 13 August 1978. He underwent open heart surgery on 7 November 1978.[citation needed]
From January 1980, Stonehouse was a volunteer fundraiser for the East London-based charity, Community Links. He joined the SDP, which later amalgamated with the Liberal Party to become the Liberal Democrats. In June 1980, he was discharged from bankruptcy. Stonehouse wrote three novels, and made TV appearances and radio broadcasts during the rest of his life, mostly in connection with discussing his disappearance. In December 1986 he appeared on the radio interview programme In The Psychiatrist's Chair with Anthony Clare. In September 1985, he started a small business which manufactured electronic and hotel safes called Guestguard. It existed up to his death
Stonehouse married Barbara Joan Smith in 1948, and they had two daughters, Jane and Julia, and a son, Mathew. After their divorce in 1978, Stonehouse married his mistress, Sheila Elizabeth Buckley, in Hampshire on 31 January 1981. In December 1982 their son James William John was born.
Actual death
On 25 March 1988, Stonehouse abruptly collapsed on set during an edition of Central Weekend in Birmingham during the filming of a programme about missing people. He was given emergency medical treatment at the studio and an ambulance was called. He was kept in the city's general hospital overnight after tests. Just under three weeks later, he suffered a heart attack at his house at Dales Way, Totton, where he had moved six months earlier, having lived in London since his release from prison,[18] and died in hospital at 2.30 am on 14 April 1988. He was cremated in Bassett Green, Southampton on 22 April 1988.[19] In 1989, his fourth novel was published posthumously.