Bob Morris obituary

The Guardian

12-06-2025

My friend and colleague Bob Morris, who has died aged 87, was the oldest among the many volunteers working for the Constitution Unit at University College London, which specialises in constitutional reform, with help from those with inside knowledge of government. He was also by far the longest serving, having worked with us for almost 30 years.
His time with the unit was almost as long as his time in the Home Office, where he was a senior civil servant for almost 40 years. He was highly respected and much loved in both roles, for his strong sense of public service, the breadth and depth of his knowledge, and his generosity in sharing it with others.
Born in Cardiff, Bob was the son of William Morris, a mechanical engineer, and his wife, Mary (nee Bryant). The family moved according to his father's wartime postings as a marine engineer with the Royal Navy, and Bob went to several schools, including Handsworth grammar in Birmingham. He was old enough to do national service in the South Staffordshire Regiment before going to Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1958 to read history.
In his long Home Office career, which began in 1961, he worked variously on crime, policing, security, prisons, immigration and constitutional matters. He was private secretary to two home secretaries, Frank Soskice and Merlyn Rees, and secretary to departmental committees on Northern Ireland, and on UK prisons. He led UK delegations to the EU, the Council of Europe and the UN, and travelled widely on official business.
In Bob's final position, as head of the Criminal Justice and Constitutional Department from 1991, he was in charge of relations with Buckingham Palace and the Church. After retiring from the Home Office in 1997, he became acting secretary for public affairs to the archbishop of Canterbury, and secretary to the Review of the See of Canterbury, chaired by Douglas Hurd in 2000-01. He found time to do a PhD on relations between the Metropolitan police and the government, 1860-1920, and started working for the Constitution Unit.
There Bob launched a whole new programme of work on church and state. That began with a book and journal articles on disestablishment, and ended with detailed reports on the coronation, and revision of the accession and coronation oaths. That in turn kindled our interest in the monarchy, leading to a comparative study of the other monarchies in Europe, where we explored the paradox that countries like Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden are hereditary monarchies, but are also among the most advanced democracies in the world.
Bob was also heavily involved in training government departments and public bodies for the advent of freedom of information. His latest book, published last year, was about the Home Office 1782-2007, and was based on private witness seminars with key participants, which he had organised with the Institute for Contemporary British History. He was steadfast and loyal to all the institutions for which he worked; unfailingly reliable, courteous and considerate, and immensely generous with his time as well as his wisdom and experience.
Bob is survived by his wife, Janet (nee Gillingham), whom he married in 1965, their children, Emily, Matthew and Ben, and grandchildren, Isabel, Sally, Joe and Julia.