John Stonehouse

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 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 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.

Education and early career

Stonehouse had a Trade Union 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 and councillor on Southampton City Council. Stonehouse was in the RAF for two years from 1944 when he was called up.