Clement Attlee profile wins Historical Biography prize

John Bew has been awarded the 2017 Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography for his book Citizen Clem: A Biography of Attlee (riverrun/Quercus).

Bew won the £5,000 prize for his book, which profiles the British politican Clement Attlee.

Roy Foster, chair of judges, praised Bew the book as "psychologically astute and full of unexpected political insights".

Foster said: "John Bew's life of Attlee restores to attention an underestimated figure, masterfully conveying his intellectual formation as well as the social background which he represented, often with surprising forcefulness. Psychologically astute and full of unexpected political insights, Bew's biography profiles both the world of middle-class socialism in the twentieth century, and its late-Victorian roots. The judges were unanimous in applauding it."

Joining Foster on the judging panel were historians Richard Davenport-Hines and Munro Price, and authors Antonia Fraser and Flora Fraser.

Bew teaches History and Foreign Policy at the War Studies Department at King's College London. He was the winner of the 2015 Philip Leverhulme Prize for outstanding achievement in Politics and International Relations at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Bew is a contributing writer at the New Statesman and the author of five books, including Realpolitik: A History (OUP).

Bew will be presented with the £5,000 prize at the 2017 Authors' Awards on 20th June.

The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography is sponsored by Flora Fraser and Peter Soros in memory of biographer Elizabeth Longford.