What do you think?
Rate this book
Stonehouse: Cabinet Minister, Fraudster, Spy
In November 1974, British MP and former cabinet minister John Stonehouse walked into the sea off a beach in Miami and disappeared, seemingly drowned.
Then he was found - on the other side of the world, in Australia - and his extraordinary story began to come to light: a Labour cabinet minister and a devoted family man; also in a long-term affair with his secretary, and a spy for the Czech State Security agency, who had committed fraud and attempted to fake his own death to escape catastrophic business failures.
Was it a mental breakdown as he later claimed? Or were there more sinister reasons for his dramatic disappearance?
This is the definitive biography of Stonehouse, written by Julian Hayes, who, as the son of Stonehouse's nephew and lawyer, Michael Hayes, is uniquely placed to tell the story of this charismatic but deeply flawed politician. As a criminal lawyer in London, Hayes has used his in-depth knowledge and experience of the criminal courts, not least the Old Bailey, where the Stonehouse trial took place, to forensically examine Stonehouse's story, including Czech defector Josef Frolík's claim that he was a spy.
Hayes has unearthed secret reports in the archives in Prague written by Stonehouse's former spymasters. He has also gleaned much from family members and lawyers involved in the trial and from the trial documents and other government papers held in archives in the UK and Australia.
Then he was found - on the other side of the world, in Australia - and his extraordinary story began to come to light: a Labour cabinet minister and a devoted family man; also in a long-term affair with his secretary, and a spy for the Czech State Security agency, who had committed fraud and attempted to fake his own death to escape catastrophic business failures.
Was it a mental breakdown as he later claimed? Or were there more sinister reasons for his dramatic disappearance?
This is the definitive biography of Stonehouse, written by Julian Hayes, who, as the son of Stonehouse's nephew and lawyer, Michael Hayes, is uniquely placed to tell the story of this charismatic but deeply flawed politician. As a criminal lawyer in London, Hayes has used his in-depth knowledge and experience of the criminal courts, not least the Old Bailey, where the Stonehouse trial took place, to forensically examine Stonehouse's story, including Czech defector Josef Frolík's claim that he was a spy.
Hayes has unearthed secret reports in the archives in Prague written by Stonehouse's former spymasters. He has also gleaned much from family members and lawyers involved in the trial and from the trial documents and other government papers held in archives in the UK and Australia.
- GenresPolitics
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 11, 2022
14 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 16, 2022
“Spy” was the very least of Stonehouse’s troubles. This is the kind of book that proves the saying ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.
British MP John Stonehouse appears to have begun his political career as an idealist but greed got the better of him.
Due to his political status he was courted by the Czechoslovak government until the offer of extra cash was too much to refuse and he did indeed become an agent for the Czech security services. However, his spying activities were mild compared to the likes of a Kim Philby.
Thinking his political life may be over if his party lost the next election Stonehouse, with the help of his nephew, lawyer Michael Hayes, set up several banking business ventures looking forward to a comfortable financial life.
Once the businesses began to fail to the extent that Stonehouse knew the axe was about to fall he began to bleed funds funneling large amounts into questionable banks accounts outside Britain using fictitious names he had established.
After painstakingly taken the time to create a new identity (in fact two) he then concocted a plan to fake his own death. He proceeded on a rather circuitous route taking himself off to Melbourne, Australia leaving a wife, three children and a mistress, not to mention his puzzled nephew.
Since he was still a sitting British MP he reasoned that Australia was the place to be.
Unfortunately before long his shady banking transactions were detected by an astute Australian bank employee. Thus began a long and peculiar back and forth between the UK and Australia – neither of whom wanted to be caught up in Stonehouse’s drama.
Eventually Stonehouse has to give up the fight and leave Australia back to the UK.
To great fanfare and media attention Stonehouse appears at the Old Bailey to answer several charges whereupon he decided to act as his own attorney making the claim that his fake identities had taken him over causing him to undertake the strange actions he was being accused of.
Either Stonehouse was not as clever as he thought – or too clever for his own good making this one of the most bizarre non-fiction stories I have read to date.
*The author is the son of Stonehouse’s nephew Michael Hayes*
~~The over use and incorrect use of punctuation is very off-putting for the reader~~
British MP John Stonehouse appears to have begun his political career as an idealist but greed got the better of him.
Due to his political status he was courted by the Czechoslovak government until the offer of extra cash was too much to refuse and he did indeed become an agent for the Czech security services. However, his spying activities were mild compared to the likes of a Kim Philby.
Thinking his political life may be over if his party lost the next election Stonehouse, with the help of his nephew, lawyer Michael Hayes, set up several banking business ventures looking forward to a comfortable financial life.
Once the businesses began to fail to the extent that Stonehouse knew the axe was about to fall he began to bleed funds funneling large amounts into questionable banks accounts outside Britain using fictitious names he had established.
After painstakingly taken the time to create a new identity (in fact two) he then concocted a plan to fake his own death. He proceeded on a rather circuitous route taking himself off to Melbourne, Australia leaving a wife, three children and a mistress, not to mention his puzzled nephew.
Since he was still a sitting British MP he reasoned that Australia was the place to be.
Unfortunately before long his shady banking transactions were detected by an astute Australian bank employee. Thus began a long and peculiar back and forth between the UK and Australia – neither of whom wanted to be caught up in Stonehouse’s drama.
Eventually Stonehouse has to give up the fight and leave Australia back to the UK.
To great fanfare and media attention Stonehouse appears at the Old Bailey to answer several charges whereupon he decided to act as his own attorney making the claim that his fake identities had taken him over causing him to undertake the strange actions he was being accused of.
Either Stonehouse was not as clever as he thought – or too clever for his own good making this one of the most bizarre non-fiction stories I have read to date.
*The author is the son of Stonehouse’s nephew Michael Hayes*
~~The over use and incorrect use of punctuation is very off-putting for the reader~~
October 8, 2021
I seem to be particularly interested in UK scandals from the 60s-70s - from Kim Philby to Profumo to Jeremy Thorpe, and now, John Stonehouse. In this book, written by John Stonehouse's great-nephew, we hear the familiar story of a man who had everything he needed to succeed, but threw it all away. Stonehouse, a young MP, and eventually a cabinet minister, decided to throw himself into the business world as a way to guarantee an income in the likely case his party would lose the next elections. So, with the help of his nephew (the author's father), he set up a number of businesses. These soon failed, for a number of reasons varying from an economic downturn to Stonehouse simply using them as personal bank accounts. So, when things got really tough, he staged his own death by drowning (in Miami), only to be picked up a few months later (in Australia) when it was noted by an astute bank clerk that the same gentleman went to 2 different banks under 2 different names. Then followed a long story about extradition - immigration - protected status for MPs- and eventually a long trial at the Old Bailey, where Stonehouse presented his own defense, which essentially boiled down to "I suffer from multiple personality disorder - my other personalities made me do it".
The story certainly had some sensational elements to it, especially the fact that Stonehouse had accepted money from an East Block country during the Cold War. It's not very clear what Stonehouse actually delivered in return for that money - his role seems to have been more as an agent of influence rather than as a source of classified information. The reconstructed story of Stonehouse flying around the world after his disappearance, then again to meet his mistress in Scandinavia, is also interesting.
The author is a lawyer, and so it's perhaps no surprise that a good part of the book is filled with the bureaucratic and political back-and-forth between Australia and the UK (neither of whom really wanted to deal with this unstable trickster) and the legal proceedings. I found this rather dry - I'm more interested in what happened that in how that information was presented in court, or how many times Stonehouse exasperated the judge.
So the book rates as a 3-star, but I subtracted one because of the really irritating typos and punctuation errors. Specifically : the lack of an apostrophe in the possessive (his lawyers advice), which I noticed several times. Also, someone is being referred to as having vacationed in "Cypress", which I think should be "Cyprus". So it seems the book has not been carefully edited or proofread.
The story certainly had some sensational elements to it, especially the fact that Stonehouse had accepted money from an East Block country during the Cold War. It's not very clear what Stonehouse actually delivered in return for that money - his role seems to have been more as an agent of influence rather than as a source of classified information. The reconstructed story of Stonehouse flying around the world after his disappearance, then again to meet his mistress in Scandinavia, is also interesting.
The author is a lawyer, and so it's perhaps no surprise that a good part of the book is filled with the bureaucratic and political back-and-forth between Australia and the UK (neither of whom really wanted to deal with this unstable trickster) and the legal proceedings. I found this rather dry - I'm more interested in what happened that in how that information was presented in court, or how many times Stonehouse exasperated the judge.
So the book rates as a 3-star, but I subtracted one because of the really irritating typos and punctuation errors. Specifically : the lack of an apostrophe in the possessive (his lawyers advice), which I noticed several times. Also, someone is being referred to as having vacationed in "Cypress", which I think should be "Cyprus". So it seems the book has not been carefully edited or proofread.
Read
September 24, 2023This has to be one of the most riveting books I have read this year, containing everything espionage, political intrigue, crime, sex and much more. The historical narrative is fascinating although so much of what happened at that time resonates through to today, with the Cold War intrigue and the rise and fall of a significant political figure. I read the paperback edition and have since compared to the original hardback as reference was made to some editing issues and it seems those have been dealt with.
If there is a book to read this year I would highly recommend this.
If there is a book to read this year I would highly recommend this.
December 27, 2024
Julian Hayes' Stonehouse: Cabinet Minister, Fraudster, Spy offers an intriguing, well-researched account of the life of John Stonehouse, the British politician whose fall from grace remains one of the most bizarre and compelling stories of the 20th century. Hayes, the great-nephew of Stonehouse, brings a personal touch to the narrative, but this does not detract from his objective portrayal of a man whose hubris, ineptitude, and sheer folly ultimately led to his downfall.
May 20, 2023
A fascinating look into the mind of a conflicted politician/humanist who reacted strangely to a crisis point. The political parts hard to relate to, so reading did not progress smoothly. I will read his daughter's book which may show a different, more relatable, man.
March 17, 2023
A great read better than the TV mini series. Hard to believe now an MP would fake his own death.
November 4, 2022
This book is a brief account of the life of John Stonehouse, with particular emphasis on his botched attempt to fake his own suicide (and the subsequent trial).
The book is a breezy read, up to the trial, fairly sprinting through Stonehouse’s live, up to the point he did that which made him famous.At that point, and we get a lot of detail, and I mean A LOT of detail, about the trial.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but I was generally aware of the Stonehouse case, and wasn’t surprised by much of it. This isn’t to say that I wasn’t yelling “You fool” to the book, because Stonehouse was either a fool or the most self-absorbed narcissist in the world. Who in their right mind thinks they can talk their wife into taking their husbands mistress in, while they’re still there? Apparently Stonehouse did, and he did dumb things like that all the times.
I did find out something about his past in the 1960s, which will surprise people who haven’t kept up-to-date with Stonehouse. I would have liked more detail about that, because it’s something I was less aware of that point in his life.
All in all, the book is a decent read, it’s just going to irritate, a little, in places.
The book is a breezy read, up to the trial, fairly sprinting through Stonehouse’s live, up to the point he did that which made him famous.At that point, and we get a lot of detail, and I mean A LOT of detail, about the trial.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but I was generally aware of the Stonehouse case, and wasn’t surprised by much of it. This isn’t to say that I wasn’t yelling “You fool” to the book, because Stonehouse was either a fool or the most self-absorbed narcissist in the world. Who in their right mind thinks they can talk their wife into taking their husbands mistress in, while they’re still there? Apparently Stonehouse did, and he did dumb things like that all the times.
I did find out something about his past in the 1960s, which will surprise people who haven’t kept up-to-date with Stonehouse. I would have liked more detail about that, because it’s something I was less aware of that point in his life.
All in all, the book is a decent read, it’s just going to irritate, a little, in places.
December 30, 2023
A well written masterpiece.
What a greedy, corrupt, and egotistical man this British politician was.
The lengths and heartless lies of the betrayal and deception John Stonehouse would tell and go through to become one of Britain’s notorious leaders/enemy, is incomprehensible.
Yet you keep wanting to read more of this very juicy story. You will need a lot of patience to read through this one as it is a very long and highly detailed story specialising in government terminology, many characters, and code names.
In the beginning, I suggest you make a short character & definition list of the terminology to assist as this certainly helps especially the first 50 pages and then you’re familiar with the characters.
My two favourite parts of this intriguing story are that you want the greedy corrupt lying bastard to go to prison but you’re also hoping his lame-ass defence plea might get him off the hook but you’re really hoping it won’t - you are torn .
But wait for it, the best part is worth your patience the courtroom dramas, oh my goodness sensational and so much fun - like you are a fly on the courtroom wall, if only!
What a greedy, corrupt, and egotistical man this British politician was.
The lengths and heartless lies of the betrayal and deception John Stonehouse would tell and go through to become one of Britain’s notorious leaders/enemy, is incomprehensible.
Yet you keep wanting to read more of this very juicy story. You will need a lot of patience to read through this one as it is a very long and highly detailed story specialising in government terminology, many characters, and code names.
In the beginning, I suggest you make a short character & definition list of the terminology to assist as this certainly helps especially the first 50 pages and then you’re familiar with the characters.
My two favourite parts of this intriguing story are that you want the greedy corrupt lying bastard to go to prison but you’re also hoping his lame-ass defence plea might get him off the hook but you’re really hoping it won’t - you are torn .
But wait for it, the best part is worth your patience the courtroom dramas, oh my goodness sensational and so much fun - like you are a fly on the courtroom wall, if only!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews