Prof John Bew CMG

Prof John Bew CMG is a Professor of History and Foreign Policy at the Centre for Statecraft and National Security (CSNS), based within the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He is an internationally recognised scholar and award-winning author who has served at the highest levels of the British government, working across the political aisle. He was the penholder on the last three UK national security strategies and was closely involved in the shaping of the most recent NATO Strategic Concept. In 2025 he was appointed Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George for his services to British foreign policy.

Bew is the author of five books, including Realpolitik: A History, Castlereagh: A Life, and many academic articles and edited collections. His best-known work is his biography of Clement Attlee, Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee, which won three national awards, including the prestigious Orwell Prize. In 2012, he became the youngest ever holder of the Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress and in 2015 he won the Philip Leverhulme Prize for International Studies. He is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, senior advisor at the Australian College of National Security and fellow of the Royal Historical Society.