John Bew Applies History to Foreign Policy-Making | Secrets of Statecraft | Andrew Roberts | Hoover Institution
The Secrets of StatecraftShow Notes
Professor John Bew’s knowledge as the biographer of Lord Castlereagh and Clement Attlee and the historian of Realpolitik was put to good use when he became the senior foreign policy advisor to no fewer than four British prime ministers.
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Hoover Institution fellow Lanhee Chen, a veteran of four presidential campaigns and the George W. Bush administration, joins Secrets of Statecraft to discuss why good policy so often fails politically. Drawing on his time as Mitt Romney’s chief policy advisor and his run for California State Controller, Chen discusses bipartisan healthcare reform, tax simplification, and the threat to Taiwan. He also criticizes California’s Prop 50 redistricting push, the muddled war in Iran, and Trump’s hold over the 2028 Republican nomination. He closes with reflections on California’s future and what might have been had Romney won the 2012 presidential election.
Everyone quotes Thucydides—but are we getting him right? Historian Andrew Novo joins Andrew Roberts to explore what the chronicler of Athens and Sparta really tells us about war, democracy, ambition, and human nature. From the disastrous invasion of Sicily to today’s rivalry between America and China, they examine how leaders wield power, how democracies lose their way, and why history’s most memorable lines can teach the wrong lessons when stripped of context.
In this special, crossover edition of Secrets of Statecraft and Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, Andrew Roberts is the guest and is interviewed by Peter Robinson. Roberts explains why great individuals still shape history—and why Winston Churchill remains history’s ultimate example. Roberts also confronts attacks on Churchill’s record, explains Britain’s decision to fight Hitler in 1940, and discusses tyranny, Brexit, socialism, immigration, Donald Trump, and Britain’s future. Roberts also despairs of the decline of literacy and historical memory, and reveals both the world leaders he admires today and the source of the title of this podcast: Winston Churchill’s enduring advice: “Study history, for therein lie all the secrets of statecraft.”
Palantir UK chief Louis Mosley joins Secrets of Statecraft to discuss how the company’s technology is transforming warfare, healthcare, and policing—from supporting Ukraine and NATO on the battlefield to connecting NHS data and helping police tackle crime and misconduct. Andrew and Louis explore the political controversy surrounding Palantir, the extraordinary promise and potential dangers of artificial intelligence, and how AI could reshape intelligence, productivity, and the balance of power. The conversation concludes by looking back to Ernest Bevin, the creation of NATO, and the postwar settlement for lessons about how the West might navigate another era of technological and geopolitical upheaval.
How did Britain’s diplomats help win World War II—and shape the world that followed? Lord Peter Ricketts, former head of Britain’s Diplomatic Service and its first National Security Advisor, discusses the extraordinary men and women of the wartime Foreign Office, from Churchill’s uneasy relationship with Charles de Gaulle to Freya Stark’s espionage work and the creation of the UN and NATO. He also explains how Britain’s diplomats confronted the decline of British power—and why the postwar international order may now be coming apart.