Stonehouse: Cabinet Minister, Fraudster, Spy

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Hayes has unearthed secret reports in the archives in Prague written by Stonehouse's former spymasters. Some conjectured that he had been the victim of a mafia hit, while others speculated that he had been smuggled to communist Cuba on a Russian submarine. She argues that her late father was the victim of vicious and inaccurate newspapers, disloyal colleagues, rightwingers seeking to discredit the Wilson government and rogue elements in the British secret services. Julian is also a published author with the book Stonehouse – Cabinet minister, Fraudster, Spy the biography of the politician John Stonehouse a true story of political intrigue, espionage, a disappearance and an Old Bailey trial. A heart attack, one of several that began during his time in prison, took his life at the age of 62.

It transpired that they had met up in Copenhagen during the period when he was supposedly dead, a reckless act by him and an encounter with bad consequences for her.

She makes the fair point that Czech agents in London were “professional liars” and incentivised to exaggerate their successes to their masters to justify their existence and their expenses. Stonehouse was ahead of his times in many ways, yet decadent, deceitful but also very engaging and intelligent . This is that Stonehouse was an avaricious chancer who faked his death in a last-throw attempt to escape a series of failed and fraudulent business dealings in which he had entangled innocent friends and relatives, including the author's father. The next time you are stuck in traffic or are experiencing some other type of stress,” says Sarah Pressman, “you might try to hold your face in a smile for a moment.

Julians legal expertise in law makes him the ideal person to be consulted on criminal proceedings, not only the court process but also police investigation when a detainee is held in custody and interviewed. This combination drove him to do “absolutely mad, out-of-character things” and commit a form of “psychological suicide” when he attempted to disappear.

View image in fullscreen John Stonehouse with his first wife, Barbara, and children Julia and Matthew at their country home in 1969.

He helps business leaders, executives, and performance-driven companies lead better and be more productive by mastering their energy. Julians’ specialism in serious crime, public law and family law can be seen in the following array of cases listed below. 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. In January 2003 a 17 year-old boy was sleeping in North London when the police ‘acting on information received’ hammered on the door. 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.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

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. You’ve been living in London illegally for the past two years, having been brought from Algeria to the UK by your father and then left with a friend. As part of the elaborate pre-planning of his disappearance, Stonehouse had siphoned money into bank accounts in the names of his false identities. 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). He was soon apprehended, in Australia, where he was initially thought by the police to be Lord Lucan, that other notable fugitive from justice of the time.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. Julians expertise has been well utilised undertaking numerous training events for colleagues, Guardians and social workers and others working within the care system.