John Stonehouse

John Stonehouse (1925-1988) was a prominent British Labour Party official in the 1970s who faked his own death in Miami, then moved to Australia.

Stonehouse had made his escape to Australia on a raft, therefore predating Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki experiment by three years. Arriving in Brisbane, Australia, he befriendet the mayor under an assumed name and received the city's support for a sicamore tree import company. His attempt to become the leader of a religious sect was so successful that he was identified by a British policeman on vacation and then extradited to Britain to await trial.

At the time the British Parliament was evenly split between the Labour and Conservative Parties and the Labour Party accepted his continued leadership role in its Party as its whip. On the eve of his trial Stonehouse left his Party, tipping the balance in Parliament. He was then convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail.