Ben Judah

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Ben Judah (born 1988) is a British political adviser, author and former journalist. Since February 2024, he has been a political adviser to David Lammy, who became Foreign Secretary in July of that year.

Contents

Early and personal life

The son of author Tim Judah [1] and Rosie Whitehouse, he was born in London. [2] He is of Baghdadi Jewish descent. [3] He spent a portion of his childhood in the Balkans [1] before returning to London where he was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle. He attended the University of Oxford. [4]

Judah is married to journalist Rosie Gray. [5]

Career

Judah began his career as a journalist covering the 2008 Russo-Georgian War, the 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution and the 2011 Tunisian Revolution and reported from the Caucasus, Siberia, Central Asia and Xinjiang. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [ non-primary source needed ]

From 2010 to 2012, Judah was a policy fellow in London at the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank. [13] He has also been a visiting fellow at the European Stability Initiative in Istanbul. [14] [ failed verification ] From 2017 to 2020, he was a research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. [15] Judah was a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, D.C., from 2020 to 2024. [16]

Judah has written for various progressive and conservative think-tanks on foreign affairs including the Center for American Progress (CAP) and Policy Exchange. [17] [18] His work has also featured at the German Council on Foreign Relations. [19] Judah has written on foreign affairs for numerous publications including The New York Times and The Sunday Times . He has been a guest on CNN , BBC News and Channel 4 News and was a contributing writer for Politico Europe . [20] He has interviewed and profiled French President Emmanuel Macron, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak. [21] [22] [23]

Judah has written three books. His first, Fragile Empire (2013), a study of Vladimir Putin's Russia, was published by Yale University Press. [24] [25] His second, This Is London, was published by Picador in 2016. The book was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2016 and shortlisted for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage 2019. [26] [27] This Is London brought Judah to the attention of Lammy. [28]

However, the book was also criticized for several allegedly racist passages where Judah described Black people and other Londonders with exaggerated physical characteristics, such as calling one Black man "pure African" and stating he had a "melon head" or writing that another Black man had an "oblong Somali head that slopes down into thick lips." [29] The book was also criticized for factual errors, such as wrongly claiming that "a gun is fired in London every six hours" when the source Judah cited said this occurs once a day. [30]

Judah had previously published false information about London in the New York Times , wrongly claiming in a 2014 op-ed that "ultra high net worth individuals" were entertaining "escorts in luxury apartments" and "investment bankers" were trading "incomprehensible derivatives" in The Shard — at the time, the apartments in the building had not been sold, so there were no residents involved in any activities there, and there were no firms trading derivatives in the building. [31] [32] The column also falsely claimed the "townhouses in the capital’s poshest districts are empty" at a time when London's high end Kensington and Chelsea borough was the second most densely populated local authority in England and Wales. [33]

His third book This is Europe was published by Picador in 2023.[ citation needed ]

Political career

In February 29, 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. [28] [34]

Awards and recognition

In 2015, he was commended for the Feature Writer of the Year award at the British Press Awards. [35]

Judah's name appeared on the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list in 2016. [36]

In 2024, the New Statesman named Judah as one of the 50 most influential people shaping the UK's progressive politics. [28]

Bibliography

Books

Selected articles

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. ↑ Palmer, Anna; Sherman, Jake (2 September 2019). "POLITICO Playbook: Trump's 'lost summer'". POLITICO. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  6. ↑ Judah, Ben (April 2011). "From Carthage to Kasserine". Standpoint Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Judah, Ben (9 April 2010). "Blood in the Streets of Bishkek". Foreign Affairs . Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  8. ↑ Judah, Ben (October 2009). "Moscow: Putin's Empire Strikes Out". Standpoint Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  9. ↑ Judah, Ben (October 2008). "Caucasus: Diary, August–September, 2008". Standpoint Magazine. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "Hunting the Lynx with the Old Believers | Standpoint". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  11. ↑ "Tajikistan: In Search of the Yeti | Standpoint". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "Xinjiang: Taming China's Wild West | Standpoint". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  13. ↑ "Ben Judah". European Council on Foreign Relations. 9 March 2012.
  14. ↑ "Ben Judah – About ESI – ESI". www.esiweb.org.
  15. ↑ "Experts – Ben Judah – Hudson Institute". www.hudson.org. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  16. ↑ "Ben Judah". Atlantic Council. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  17. ↑ Sutton, Trevor; Judah, Ben (26 February 2021). "Turning the Tide on Dirty Money". Center for American Progress. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  18. ↑ "A "Washington Strategy" for British Diplomacy". Policy Exchange. February 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  19. ↑ Vallée, Shahin; Judah, Ben (2 September 2021). "International Corporate Tax Reform". DGAP: German Council on Foreign Relations . Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  20. ↑ "Ben Judah: 30 under 30". Forbes. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  21. ↑ Judah, Ben (2 February 2017). "Exclusive interview: Emmanuel Macron on Brexit, le Pen and the teacher who became his wife". The Sunday Times . Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  22. ↑ Judah, Ben (4 February 2018). "The Magazine Interview: Imran Khan, the former playboy cricketer and would-be PM of Pakistan". The Sunday Times . Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  23. ↑ Judah, Ben (5 May 2015). "Maharajah of the Yorkshire Dales". Politico . Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  24. ↑ Feinberg, Richard (November 2013). "Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love with Vladimir Putin". Foreign Affairs. 92 (6).
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ "This is London by Ben Judah". www.panmacmillan.com. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  28. 1 2 3 "The left power list 2024". New Statesman . 4 June 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  29. ↑ Herrman, Joshi; Kersley, Andrew (13 December 2024). "A government advisor wrote a libel against London. Why did we believe it?". The Londoner. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  30. ↑ Herrman, Joshi; Kersley, Andrew (13 December 2024). "A government advisor wrote a libel against London. Why did we believe it?". The Londoner. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  31. ↑ Heath, Allister (10 March 2014). "The New York Times is totally wrong in its attack on London". City AM. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  32. ↑ Thomas, Sean (9 March 2014). "Mile-high apartments full of trillionaire villains and their hookers: London according to the New York Times". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  33. ↑ Heath, Allister (10 March 2014). "The New York Times is totally wrong in its attack on London". City AM. Retrieved 27 July 2025.
  34. ↑ Bloom, Dan (29 February 2024). "All eyes on the police". Politico. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  35. ↑ "Press Awards". Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  36. ↑ "Ben Judah, 27". Forbes. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 7 February 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
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