John Bew

John Bew is a British historian and policy adviser. He is Professor of History and Foreign Policy at the War Studies Department of King's College London and was a senior foreign policy adviser to the British government. He studied history at Trinity College, Cambridge, and has written extensively on British political history, foreign policy, and the history of political thought. His biography Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee (2016) is widely regarded as the definitive life of Clement Attlee, the Labour prime minister who led the creation of the National Health Service and the modern British welfare state. The book won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2017 and the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography. It was critically acclaimed for combining scholarly rigour with accessible, compelling narrative. Bew has also written Realpolitik: A History (2015) and other works on political history. His advisory role in government and his academic career have made him one of the more unusual figures in British public life—a historian who moves between the academy and the corridors of power. He lives in London.