John Stonehouse
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John Stonehouse (1926 - 1988) was a British politician and minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is notable for faking his own death.
He served as Postmaster General under Wilson, but after the defeat in the general election of 1970, he was not appointed to the Shadow Cabinet. He set up various companies in an attempt to secure a regular income. By 1974 these were mostly in financial trouble and he had resorted to cooking the books. Aware that the Department for Trade and Industry were looking at his affairs, he decided that his best choice would be to flee.
He maintained the pretence of normality until his pretended suicide in 1974, and left a pile of clothes on a Miami beach. He was presumed to be dead, and obituaries were published. Obviously no body was ever washed ashore, as he was meanwhile en route to Australia, hoping to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary. He was discovered by coincidence, the Australian police thinking he was Lord Lucan. He applied for the Chiltern Hundreds while still in Australia, but decided not to sign the papers.
The delay in his extradition was caused partly because the Australians were reluctant to deport a British MP. However, 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. In April 1976 he resigned the Labour whip, making them a minority government. A few days later he joined the English Nationalist Party.
Stonehouse conducted his own defence at the trial. He was convicted and sentenced to prison for seven years for fraud. He finally agreed to resign on August 28.
He was released from prison in 1979, wrote a number of books, and, after a period of illness, died in 1988.
| Preceded by: Roy Mason | Postmaster General 1968–1969 | Succeeded by: — |