‘Drowned’ minister’s fall from grace

When Julian Hayes came to write this biography of former cabinet minister John Stonehouse, he was certainly not short of compelling material. In 1974, the Labour MP staged his own disappearance to suggest that he had drowned while swimming from a beach in Miami. When he reappeared in Australia, he became the centre of media attention as efforts were made to return him to the UK to face charges of fraud. Identity theft, sexual intrigue and the cold war are just some of the other elements that make up this tale, which culminated in the former postmaster general being sent to prison for seven years.

Julian Hayes is a solicitor who specialises in crime and child care and he has a very personal interest in the subject of this book as his father was John Stonehouse’s nephew. He makes good use of his family connections to provide a not entirely unsympathetic picture of the private life of his subject. But he makes it clear that he considers that his father was one of many who were betrayed by Stonehouse. He also highlights the material relating to Stonehouse that he was able to uncover in the archives of the Czech State Security agency.

For lawyers, there are lengthy accounts of both the extradition process from Australia and also the three-month Old Bailey trial during the long hot summer of 1976. Dispensing with counsel on the eve of the trial, we are told that Stonehouse gave an unsworn ‘dock statement’ which could not be tested by cross-examination, and that this practice was abolished in 1982, in no small part due to this case.

This is a timely account of a politician who fell from grace in a very public way.

David Philpott is a criminal defence solicitor at Olliers Solicitors, Manchester