John Thomson Stonehouse (28 July 1925 – 14 April 1988) was a British Labour Party politician and junior minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is perhaps best 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 communist Czechoslovak Socialist Republic military intelligence. In 1979 Prime Minister Maragaret Thatcher and top cabinent members learned from a Czech defector that he 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 had already been in prison for fraud and the government decided there was insufficient evidence to bring to trial, so no announcement or prosecution was made.^[1]

Stonehouse had a Trade Union^{[clarification needed]} upbringing and joined the Labour Party at the age of 16. He was educated at Taunton's College, Southampton, and the London School of Economics. His mother was the sixth female mayor of Southampton^[2] and councillor on Southampton City Council. Stonehouse married Barbara Smith in 1948, and they had three children. An economist, he became involved in co-operative enterprise and was a manager of African co-operative societies in Uganda 1952–54. He served as a director (1956–62) and president (1962–64) of the London Co-operative Society.

Stonehouse was first elected as Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament (MP) for Wednesbury in a 1957 by-election, having contested Twickenham in 1950 and Burton in 1951.

In February 1959 Stonehouse traveled to Rhodesia on a fact-finding tour in which he condemned the white government of Southern Rhodesia. Speaking to the Southern Rhodesian African National Congress, he encourage blacks to stand up for their rights, and said they had the support of the British Labour Party. He was promptly expelled from Rhodesian, and kept from returning a year later.^[3]

Stonehouse began spying for Czechoslovakia in 1962. He served as a junior minister of aviation, where he was involved in BOAC's order of Boeing 707 aircraft from the USA, against his own recommendation that they should buy a British aircraft, the Super VC10. This led to his making accusations against colleagues about the reasons for the decision. In March 1968 he negotiated an agreement providing a framework for the long-term development of technological co-operation between Britain and Czechoslovakia. It provided for the exchange of specialists and information, facilities for study and research in technology, and such other forms of industrial co-operation which might be agreed.^[4]

While in the Colonial Office, Stonehouse's rise continued, and in 1967 he became Minister for Technology and as Postmaster General under Wilson until the post was abolished by the Post Office Act 1969.

As Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in 1970, he oversaw the controversial jamming of the offshore radio station Radio North Sea International. When Labour was defeated in the 1970 General Election, he was not appointed to the Shadow Cabinet.

When the Wednesbury constituency was abolished in 1974, he stood for and was elected to the nearby Walsall North constituency. Appointed to the new government, Stonehouse oversaw the introduction of first and second class stamps.

In 1969 Stonehouse was subjected to the assertion that he was a Czech secret service agent. He successfully defended himself,^[5] but the allegation was substantiated in the official history of MI5, The Defence of the Realm by Cambridge historian Christopher Andrew.^[6] In December 2010 it was revealed that then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had agreed in 1980 to cover up revelations that Stonehouse had been a Czech spy since the 1960s as there was insufficient evidence to bring him to trial.^[1] Until Ray Mawby, briefly a member of a Conservative government, was exposed in June 2012,^[7] Stonehouse was the only minister known to have been an agent for the former Eastern bloc.

After 1970, Stonehouse set up various companies in an attempt to secure a regular income. By 1974 most of these were in financial trouble, and he had resorted to cooking the books. Aware that the Department of Trade and Industry was looking at his affairs, he decided that his best choice would be to flee. Secret British government documents, declassified in 2005, indicate that Stonehouse spent months rehearsing his new identity, that of Joseph Markham — the deceased husband of a constituent.^[8]

Stonehouse maintained the pretence of normality until he faked his suicide on 20 November 1974, leaving a pile of clothes on a Miami beach. He was presumed dead, and obituaries were published despite the fact that no body 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 names, 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 suspected him of being the fugitive Lord Lucan who, two weeks before Stonehouse faked his death, had disappeared 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.^[9]

Stonehouse was arrested on Christmas Eve 1974. Due to the possibility that they might be arresting Lord Lucan, who had a six-inch scar on his inside right thigh, the police instructed him to pull down his trousers so they could be sure they arrested the right man.^[10] He applied for the position of Bailiff and Steward 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 discovered, he was deported to the UK, though he had tried to obtain offers of asylum from Sweden or Mauritius.

He returned in June 1975, and was remanded in Brixton Prison until August. He continued to act as an MP. Although unhappy with the situation, the Labour Party did not expel him. On 7 April 1976, three weeks before his trial, he resigned the Labour whip, making them a minority government. A few days later he joined the English National Party.

The MP's trial, on 21 charges of fraud, theft, forgery, conspiracy to defraud, causing a false police investigation and wasting police time, lasted 68 days. Stonehouse conducted his own defence at the trial. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud. He was imprisoned in HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs, where he complained that the prison workshop where he worked played pop-music radio stations.

He finally agreed to resign as a Privy Counsellor on 17 August^[11] (becoming one of only three people to resign from the Privy Council in the 20th century), and resign as an MP on 27 August.^[12] The subsequent by-election was won by Robin Hodgson, a Conservative.

After his conviction, Stonehouse's wife divorced him in 1978.

Whilst in prison, his health deteriorated. He was later moved to Blundeston Prison. Stonehouse was released early from prison in August 1979 because he had suffered three heart attacks and had undergone open heart surgery in November 1978.

After his release, he worked as a volunteer fundraiser for the east London charity, Community Links, for several years. He joined the Social Democratic Party, which later merged with the Liberal Party to become the Liberal Democrats.

Stonehouse married his mistress Sheila Buckley in Hampshire on 31 January 1981 and shortly afterwards their son was born. Stonehouse wrote three novels, and made several TV appearances, mostly in connection with discussing his disappearance. On 25 March 1988, he abruptly collapsed on set during a TV show, but recovered. This was only temporary and Stonehouse died in Southampton, aged 62,^[13] on 14 April 1988 from a fourth heart attack. A fourth novel he was working on at the time of his death was published posthumously, in 1989.

• Prohibited Immigrant, The Bodley Head, 1960, ISBN 978-1-135-35474-9 — Stonehouse's account of his 1959 African tour, which culminated in his deportation from Northern Rhodesia.
• My Trial, Star, 1976-6, ISBN 978-0-352-39749-2 ((citation)): Check date values in: |date= (help).
• Death of an Idealist, WH Allen, & Virgin Books, 25 November 1975, ISBN 0-491-01615-8.
• Ralph, Jonathan Cape, 1982-5, ISBN 0-224-02019-6 ((citation)): Check date values in: |date= (help).
• The Baring Fault, Calder Publications, 15 May 1986, ISBN 0-7145-4106-0.
• Oil on the Rift, Robert Hale, 13 August 1987, ISBN 978-0-7090-3056-0.
• Who Sold Australia?, UK: Robert Hale, 30 March 1989, ISBN 978-0-7090-3623-4.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by John Stonehouse

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