Craig Brown

The disappearing man: who was the real John Stonehouse?

The Labour MP who faked his death in 1974 was convicted of fraud. But was he also a spy — or, as his daughter Julia maintains, just a disillusioned idealist?

Smooth and enigmatic as ever — John Stonehouse at his desk [Alamy] 
issue 31 July 2021
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  • John Stonehouse, My Father: The True Story of a Runaway MP

    Julia Stonehouse

    Icon Books, pp. 416, £16

November 1974 was the month to disappear. On the 7th, Lord Lucan went missing, and a fortnight later John Stonehouse MP dis-appeared from a beach in Miami. Lucan was never found, so remains prominent in our national mythology. Nothing endures like a mystery. Stonehouse, on the other hand, was discovered in Melbourne six weeks later, living under an assumed name.

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