John Bew, head of the Britain in the World Project at Policy Exchange, has won the award for Best Political Book by a non-Parliamentarian at the Parliamentary Book Awards. At a ceremony in the House of Commons on Tuesday 6th December, Bew was presented the award for his book, Citizen Clem: A Life of Attlee, which was published by riverrun on 1 September, and has already gone through four editions. The two other short-listed candidates were Jeremy Paxman and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Citizen Clem has also been named a “book of the year” by The Times, The Sunday Times, Evening Standard, The Spectator and New Statesman. In fact, Bew has two books listed by The Times in their publication highlights of the year. His last book, Realpolitik: A History (published by Oxford University Press, early this year) was chosen by Roger Boyes, the foreign affairs correspondent of The Times. Boyes wrote that Realpolitik ‘could well find its way into the White House. I hope so, it’s an elegant book about politics without cant. If anyone can persuade Donald Trump that great power diplomacy has to be more than a display of virility then it is surely Bew’.