John Stonehouse, My Father by Julia Stonehouse; Stonehouse by Julian Hayes â review
John Stonehouse on his way from the House of Commons to Horseferry Road magistrates court, October 1975. Photograph: Ken Towner/Evening News/Shutterstock
John Stonehouse on his way from the House of Commons to Horseferry Road magistrates court, October 1975. Photograph: Ken Towner/Evening News/Shutterstock
Two relatives of John Stonehouse offer differing reasons for why, nearly 50 years ago, the Labour MP, philanderer and suspected spy faked his own death in the strangest political story of the 1970s
Sun 25 Jul 2021 02.00 EDT
John Stonehouse was a politician who had it all. He was tall, good looking, clever, fiercely ambitious and an energetic campaigner for his causes with a high capacity for turning on the charm. Being a former RAF pilot and the son of a Labour mayor of Southampton helped lubricate his ascent in the party. After serving as junior minister of aviation and minister of state for technology, a hot topic during Harold Wilsonâs first period as prime minister, he rose to the cabinet as postmaster general and then minister of posts and telecommunications. Such was his dazzle that some tipped the West Midlands MP as a future occupant of Number 10.