John is a crossbench peer who is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Defending Democracy and vice-chair of the AUKUS Appg.

He served as the UK government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption between 2020 and 2025. In 2024 he published the major government review, Protecting our Democracy from Coercion, which you can read here. 

John is the founder and chair of Powerful Street Ltd, which has published his latest review: Undue Influence: the Iranian regime’s Abuse of the UK Charity System and the Limitations of Oversight.

John was the political spokesman for Gordon Brown in 10 Downing Street as the then Prime Minister led the international response to the global recession, and an adviser in several government departments. 

In 2010 he was elected as the Labour-Cooperative MP for Barrow and Furness and served on the defence committee and as the chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party’s committees on foreign affairs. He is a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies and obtained a Masters in International Security and Strategy from King’s College London.