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25

Feb

The Higher Research Seminar: Intelligence seminar with Matthew Hefler from the Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication at the Stockholm School of Economics - “Churchill & de Gaulle: Secret Intelligence and Franco-British Relations”

25 February 2026 13:15 to 15:00 | Seminar
Illustration av kvinna i gravyrteknik gjord med AI.

Matthew Hefler from the Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication at the Stockholm School of Economics is visiting us for a seminar about his new book on Churchill, de Gaulle and the role of secret intelligence for Franco-British relations.
You're all welcome to join us in the large conference room!

Chair: Tony INgesson

ABSTRACT

During the Second World War, many leaders wanted Britain and France to cooperate so they could compete with the rising superpowers. However, they failed to do so and were relegated as great powers. This work uses international intelligence archives to reassess Franco-British relations during the war. These show that secret information and clandestine diplomacy were central to the failure of these allies to cooperate. Intelligence reveals that the key decision-maker, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was opposed to a Franco-British strategy. Instead, he conducted an “unofficial” policy against France in the Middle East: a secretive and ambitious effort to oust the French from the Levant States, establish a Jewish State and reorganize the region under British hegemony. It is now possible to reconstruct this covert political action.

Dr. Matthew Hefler is a Senior Research Fellow, Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication, Stockholm School of Economics, and Project Lead, AJI Intelligence and Research Programme. He is a specialist in international history and intelligence history, with research focusing on the role of intelligence and secret services in international diplomacy. Hefler received his PhD as a Commonwealth Scholar in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where his work examined intelligence and allied relations during the Second World War. His current research examines Anglo-French intelligence and de Gaulle’s diplomatic brinksmanship. He is a Member of the Board of the Society for Intelligence History, a co-convenor of the Cambridge Intelligence 
Seminar, and an affiliate at the Center for Statecraft and National Security. His first monograph, Churchill and de Gaulle: Secret 
Intelligence and the Failure of Franco-British Relations, is forthcoming in 2026.

About the event

Location:

Large conference room, Eden 367.

Contact:

tony [dot] ingesson [at] svet [dot] lu.s