Ben Judah

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]

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 and received positive reviews, though some experts criticised its sensationalism and questioned its authenticity.^[20][21][22] This Is London brought Judah to the attention of MP David Lammy.^[23] His third book This is Europe was published by Picador in 2023.^[24]

From February 2024 until early 2026, Judah worked as Special Advisor to David Lammy.^[2][25] According to the New Statesman, Judah shaped Lammy's doctrine of "progressive realism" and raised Lammy's profile domestically and internationally.^[23]

In 2015, he was commended as the Feature Writer of the Year award at the British Press Awards.^[26]

Judah's name appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in 2016.^[27]

In 2024, the New Statesman named Judah as one of the 50 most influential people shaping the UK's progressive politics.^[23]

Books

• Fragile Empire. Yale University Press. 2013. ISBN 978-0300205220.
• This Is London. Picador. 2016. ISBN 9781447272441.
• This is Europe: The Way We Live Now. Picador. 2023. ISBN 9781447276265.