About

John Kampfner has had a 40-year career in public life spanning global affairs, politics, media and arts. He is the author of eight books, several of which were best-sellers.

His latest book, Braver New World, will be published in April.

He writes a regular Substack column called 'Citizen of Everywhere', which looks at Germany, Europe and the world.

He is a frequent contributor to the Guardian, Foreign Policy, Politico and others and presents documentaries and does interviews on broadcast media.

John is a regular speaker at conferences and literary festivals.

His current positions include:
Chair of the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.
Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
Deputy Chair of the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft (German-British Association).
Chair of Young Königswinter.

Career highlights:
John began his journalistic career with The Telegraph, first in East Berlin where he reported on the fall of the Wall and unification of Germany, then in Moscow during the collapse of Soviet Communism. He went on to work for the FT and BBC covering UK politics.

As Editor of The New Statesman (2005-2008), he achieved 30-year circulation highs.

In 2021-2022, at Chatham House, he set up its ‘UK in the World’ programme, becoming its first Executive Director.

From 2008 to 2016, he was founder Chair of Turner Contemporary, establishing one of the UK’s most successful art galleries. From 2014 to 2018 he was founder Chief Executive of the Creative Industries Federation.

He was Chief Executive of the freedom of expression organisation, Index on Censorship, between 2008 and 2011; he subsequently advised Google on these issues for two years.

He was on the Council of King’s College London between 2012 and 2015 and Chair of the Clore Social Leadership programme from 2015 to 2018.

He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for services to the arts by Bath Spa University in 2019.