Sidali spent the next two and half years in the maximum security prison of Belmarsh (despite being a juvenile), before going on trial at the Old Bailey. 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. 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. John Stonehouse on his way from the House of Commons to Horseferry Road magistrates court, October 1975.

Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5, delivers the damning verdict that Stonehouse is “the only British politician (so far as is known) to have acted as a foreign agent while holding ministerial office”.They gave him a variety of codenames, the last being Twister, which is suggestive of their growing disappointment with his performance. If you haven’t studied all the evidence first hand, as I haven’t, it is not possible to properly judge who is right, but she makes that part of her case with vigour.

However, what this book really delves deep into, is the never-seen-before File 40375 from the Czech Secret service archives- that exposes Stonehouse, as yes, a Soviet Spy. Come down the travelators, exit Sainsbury's, turn right and follow the pedestrianised walkway to Crown Walk and turn right - and Coles will be right in front of you.The reconstructed story of Stonehouse flying around the world after his disappearance, then again to meet his mistress in Scandinavia, is also interesting.

The StB file on him, which became available for scrutiny after the end of the cold war, contains a litany of complaints that he became elusive and uncooperative, especially after suspicion fell on Owen. She’s also studied the Stonehouse file from the StB archive and says she finds in it nothing to prove that he either took cash from them or provided any information that wasn’t readily available in the public domain. 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. He had faked his death by leaving the sea along the coast and changing into dry clothes, which he had covertly deposited at another hotel. His legal expertise makes sense of criminal proceedings, but while he beautifully lays out the factual detail, it is the human side of this very personal story that is so captivating.

British MP John Stonehouse appears to have begun his political career as an idealist but greed got the better of him. Julian Hayes is a born storyteller too, and his family certainly gifted him with a remarkable story that lingers long after the final reading. A heart attack, one of several that began during his time in prison, took his life at the age of 62. It took enormous energy, ingenuity and expertise (and some luck) to reveal to the jury the way in which the evidence had been tampered with or was just not there, the extent to which the Home Office expert witnesses had failed to disclose their findings, the possibility that there was an agent provocateur deep at the heart of all that unfolded.