Ben Judah

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Benjamin William Judah (born 31 March 1988) is a British journalist and author of This Is London and Fragile Empire. Since February 2024, he has been a special adviser to David Lammy, who became Foreign Secretary in July 2024 and Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary in September 2025.

Contents

Early and personal life

The son of journalist Tim Judah and Rosie Whitehouse, he was born in London. [1] [2] He is of Baghdadi Jewish descent. [3] He spent a portion of his childhood in the Balkans before returning to London where he was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle. [1] He studied politics at Trinity College, Oxford during the 2000s. [4] [5] Judah is married to journalist Rosie Gray. [6]

Career

Judah began his career as a foreign correspondent. He covered the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, [5] the 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution and the 2011 Tunisian Revolution and has reported from the Levant, Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia and Xinjiang. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Judah has held fellowships on foreign affairs at a variety of think-tanks committed to Western alliances. From 2010 to 2012, Judah was a policy fellow in London at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a pro-European think tank. [14] From 2017 to 2020, he held a research fellowship at the Atlanticist think tank the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., where he led research for the Kleptocracy Initiative. [15] [16] From 2020 to 2024, He was a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, D.C.,where he directed the Transform Europe Initiative. [17]

Judah has written three books. His first, Fragile Empire (2013), a study of Vladimir Putin's Russia, was published by Yale University Press. [18] [19] His second, This Is London, was published by Picador in 2016. The book was longlisted for the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction and its Polish translation shortlisted for the 2019 Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage. [20] [21] This Is London brought Judah to the attention of MP David Lammy. [22] His third book This is Europe was published by Picador in 2023.[ citation needed ]

Political career

On 29 February 2024, Judah was announced as a political adviser to David Lammy, who became Foreign Secretary that July. According to the New Statesman , Judah shaped Lammy's doctrine of "progressive realism" and raised Lammy's profile domestically and internationally. [22] [23]

Awards and recognition

In 2015, he was commended as the Feature Writer of the Year award at the British Press Awards. [24]

Judah's name appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in 2016. [25]

In 2024, the New Statesman named Judah as one of the 50 most influential people shaping the UK's progressive politics. [22]

Bibliography

Books

References

  1. 1 2 Clibbon, Jennifer. "Snowden, Syria, Vladimir Putin's 'Cold Peace' with the West | CBC News".
  2. ↑ "Ben Judah: Labour's new voice on Europe". TheArticle. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Judah, Ben. "Ben Judah: The last of our synagogues". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  4. ↑ "Ben Judah feels like a stranger in his native London". The Spectator. 6 February 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Cherwell Star: Ben Judah". Cherwell . 16 October 2008. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  6. ↑ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake (2 September 2019). "POLITICO Playbook: Trump's 'lost summer'". POLITICO. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  7. ↑ Judah, Ben (April 2011). "From Carthage to Kasserine". Standpoint Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  8. ↑ Judah, Ben (9 April 2010). "Blood in the Streets of Bishkek". Foreign Affairs . Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  9. ↑ Judah, Ben (October 2009). "Moscow: Putin's Empire Strikes Out". Standpoint Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  10. ↑ Judah, Ben (October 2008). "Caucasus: Diary, August–September, 2008". Standpoint Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "Hunting the Lynx with the Old Believers | Standpoint". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "Tajikistan: In Search of the Yeti | Standpoint". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  13. ↑ "Xinjiang: Taming China's Wild West | Standpoint". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "Ben Judah". European Council on Foreign Relations. 9 March 2012.
  15. ↑ "Experts – Ben Judah – Hudson Institute". www.hudson.org. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  16. ↑ Judah, Ben (2024), Fighting Kleptocracy in an Era of Geopolitics (PDF), Washington, DC: National Endowment for Democracy, p. 19
  17. ↑ "Ben Judah". Atlantic Council. Archived from the original on 3 September 2025. Retrieved 6 October 2025.
  18. ↑ Feinberg, Richard (November 2013). "Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin". Foreign Affairs. 92 (6).
  19. ↑ Tismaneanu, Vladimir (May 2014). "Reviewed Work: Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin by Ben Judah". International Affairs. 90 (3): 725–727.
  20. ↑ Oliver, Tim (1 May 2016). "This Is London: Life and Death in the World City Ben Judah" (PDF). International Affairs. 92 (3): 737–738. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.12627.
  21. ↑ "This is London by Ben Judah". www.panmacmillan.com. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  22. 1 2 3 "The left power list 2024". New Statesman . 4 June 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  23. ↑ Bloom, Dan (29 February 2024). "All eyes on the police". Politico. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  24. ↑ "Press Awards". Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  25. ↑ "Ben Judah, 27". Forbes. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
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