Although the Government is unlikely to go to war again any time soon, few legal positions in Whitehall are as important or highly charged as adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Daniel Bethlehem, QC, was previously an academic and a barrister specialising in international law. Practising at 20 Essex Street, he regularly appeared in cases before Europe’s highest courts. Born in London and raised in South Africa, Bethlehem, 47, studied politics and international relations at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg before returning to the UK to study law at Bristol and Cambridge. He worked for an investment bank for several years before being called to the Bar in 1988. A master scuba diver, he has held teaching positions at the London School of Economics and the Lauterpacht Research Centre for International Law at Cambridge University, where he became director in 2003. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in the same year.

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