Craig Brown

The disappearing man: who was the real John Stonehouse?

The Labour MP who faked his death in 1974 was convicted of fraud. But was he also a spy — or, as his daughter Julia maintains, just a disillusioned idealist?

Smooth and enigmatic as ever — John Stonehouse at his desk [Alamy]
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  • John Stonehouse, My Father: The True Story of a Runaway MP

    Julia Stonehouse

    Icon Books, pp. 416, £16

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