British trade union leader Eric Hammond considered Joe Godson "a shadowy and influential figure between the British and American trade unions and probably some kind of a spook". Stephen Dorril and Robin Ramsay refer to Joe as "an American spook" in their biography of Harold Wilson. Dean's mother (his father's second wife) is Ruth Perlman, of Israel. Dean's elder half-brother is Roy Godson (born 1942), professor emeritus at Georgetown University and a specialist in international politics and national security, who married Christine Watson, daughter of Sam Watson, General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (Durham Area) in 1947 and Chairman of the Labour Party in 1949–50, the principal union ally of Hugh Gaitskell, Joe Godson's close friend. Education Godson was educated at three independent schools for boys: Edinburgh Academy, Sussex House School in Chelsea, London, and St Paul's School in Barnes, London. He went on to study history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a BA degree in 1983. Life and career During the 1980s, Godson was Research Assistant to Sir Ray Whitney, MP for Wycombe. He also held the position of Assistant to Hon John Lehman, US Secretary of the Navy, Washington DC, and was a Research Fellow at both Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Cambridge, Massachusetts and the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies. From 1990 to 1992, Godson worked as Librarian to Sir James Goldsmith. From 1992 to 1995, he worked for The Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph as an obituary writer, leader writer and feature writer. From 1995 to 2004, he was Chief Leader Writer of The Daily Telegraph, writing largely about mainland domestic politics and Northern Ireland. From 1997 to 2004, he also worked as Associate Editor of The Spectator under Boris Johnson’s editorship (before the latter became Mayor for London), was a Contributing Editor for Prospect magazine and a Consultant Editor on the New York Sun. In his political career, Godson stood as candidate in Great Grimsby in 1997 and served as first Deputy Chairman of Kensington and Chelsea Conservative Association from 1995–98. Godson is author of Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism (Harper Collins, 2004) which was short listed for the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize. Andrew Marr called it "a great act of political reporting – instant history, if you like – about the drama of Northern Ireland's search for peace". He was a visiting professor