A tribute to Bob Morris

It’s with nice disappointment that we should announce the dying of Dr Bob Morris on 16 Could. He was 87. Not solely was Bob the oldest contributor to the work of the Structure Unit, he was additionally one of many longest serving, having labored with us for nearly 30 years. This was virtually so long as his previous time within the Residence Workplace, the place he served for near 40 years. We can’t hint precisely when Bob’s involvement with the Unit started, however its present Director, Meg Russell, remembers that when she joined in 1998, he was on the panel which recruited her (to steer a venture on the teachings for Lords reform of second chambers abroad). 

Though an Honorary Senior Analysis Affiliate who served in a voluntary capability, and half time, with many different pursuits, Bob’s contribution to the Unit’s work and the variety of his publications would do credit score to a full time educational. Our web site data the total listing: 4 books of which he was editor or co-editor, eight Structure Unit stories, a dozen journal articles, and quite a few weblog posts. The journals the place he selected to publish document the place his major pursuits lay: the Ecclesiastical Legislation Journal, Journal of Church and State, Legislation and Justice. 

Church and State 

Bob’s curiosity in Church and State derived from his earlier expertise. In his final place within the Residence Workplace he had been Assistant Beneath-Secretary of State liable for constitutional issues, together with relations with the Palace and the Church. On retirement from the Residence Workplace he crossed the river to turn out to be the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Appearing Secretary for Public Affairs in Lambeth Palace. He was additionally Secretary to the Evaluate of the See of Canterbury chaired by former Residence Secretary Douglas Hurd, whose report (written by Bob) was revealed as To Lead and to Serve in 2001. 

Inside the Structure Unit Bob single handedly developed a complete new work programme on Church and State, exploring the implications of disestablishing the Church of England. This started with a mapping train, explaining the completely different strands of multinational (Church and State: A Mapping Train, 2006), and ended with a report in 2008 titled Some Reflections on Church Institution in England. Bob’s reflections included difficult the Church’s frequent assertion that institution was a seamless gown, in order that if one thread had been unpicked, the entire garment would unravel. And he added two phrases of warning. The primary was that institution is a relationship, which like all relationships wanted nurturing to stay full of life and significant. The second was to warn the Church that the state was dropping curiosity within the relationship, with a danger of it doing one thing clumsy or negligent; the Church may wish to think about loosening among the threads itself to make sure it was grasp of its personal future.  

On the similar time Bob joined a small group of former civil servants who labored for the Unit by delivering coaching to authorities departments to assist them put together for the implementation of the Freedom of Data Act 2000. Bob was a number one member of the group, as proven by the variety of his purchasers: the Residence Workplace, Overseas Workplace, Data Commissioner, Housing Company, Basic Medical Council, Belongings Restoration Company, Safety Business Authority, Unbiased Police Complaints Fee, and the staffs of each Homes of Parliament. And typical of Bob’s generosity, the charges which he earned from this coaching and consultancy work had been all donated to the Unit. 

Coronation and Accession Oaths 

Because the late Queen’s reign drew to an in depth, Bob’s curiosity in Church and State developed a brand new focus, on the necessity to replace the Accession and Coronation oaths earlier than the accession of a brand new monarch. The statutory oaths (which require the monarch to be Protestant, exclude Catholics from the throne, and privilege the Church of England) are anachronistic, relationship again to the seventeenth century, when Catholic Europe was seen as an existential risk to the safety of the realm. In typical Bob trend, he launched into a really thorough session train, with an preliminary non-public seminar asking 25 specialists (ecclesiastical attorneys, historians, Church representatives and people representing different faiths) whether or not the oaths wanted revising and updating. Once we went around the desk on the finish, the vote was 24:1 in favour. That led to the subsequent part, once we thought-about alternative ways during which the oaths is likely to be revised and up to date, and held a second non-public seminar to critique our drafts. The outcome was revealed as Swearing within the new King: the Accession Declarations and Coronation Oaths (2018). However from his delving into the Archives at Kew Bob had acquired so within the preparations for earlier coronations that he couldn’t resist publishing a companion report, Inaugurating a brand new Reign: Planning the Accession and Coronation. 

Comparative examine of European monarchies 

The British monarch isn’t alone in being head of a longtime church: comparable preparations exist within the Lutheran nations of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. That prompted a wider curiosity within the different constitutional monarchies of Europe, which we explored at a convention convened on the Royal Basis of St Katharine, a really appropriate venue discovered by Bob because of his Church connections. Political science has a blind spot about monarchy, and in our (now open entry) ebook, The Position of Monarchy in Fashionable Democracy (2020), we discovered ourselves creating new principle to clarify not simply the longevity of European monarchies, however their extraordinary reputation: they command approval rankings which, as we are saying within the ebook, politicians would die for. A part of the reason lies within the paradox {that a} hereditary establishment like monarchy will be surprisingly accountable: we discovered 4 situations of monarchs being pressured to abdicate within the final 100 years, and 18 referendums being held in 9 completely different European nations on whether or not the monarchy ought to proceed, or be revived. 

The comparative examine of European monarchies was the final ebook which Bob produced with the Unit, however not the final ebook which he revealed. He had all the time had different educational pursuits. Quickly after leaving the Residence Workplace he did a PhD on relations between the Metropolitan Police and the federal government 1860-1920, main later to an edited ebook, Reforming the Police within the Nineteenth Century (2014). His final ebook took him again to the Residence Workplace, with publication of the transcripts of a collection of personal witness seminars which he had organised with the Institute of Modern British Historical past. It appeared final yr as The Residence Workplace 1782-2007: from Prerogative to Principle, and was launched at a seminar collectively hosted by the Everlasting Secretaries of the Residence Workplace and the Ministry of Justice: an amazing tribute to Bob’s persevering with standing in Whitehall.  

Bob’s wider contribution 

Bob performed an necessary half within the wider work of the Unit, writing articles for the press, showing steadily on radio and TV, giving proof to parliamentary committees and briefing journalists along with his standard persistence and courtesy. Since 2021, he racked up over 100 appearances and mentions within the media, sharing his experience. He was an everyday presence at Unit seminars and comparable occasions, the place he could possibly be relied upon to ask shrewd questions, and produce the dialogue again on observe. At in-person occasions he would all the time keep to mingle afterwards, notably with the youthful and newer members of the Unit.  

On his closing retirement Meg Russell and the Unit’s Impression Analysis Fellow Rowan Corridor compiled a ebook of testimonials to Bob. Just some extracts give a way of Bob’s heat and good humour, and his generosity in sharing his immense studying and expertise with us all: 

What an absolute pleasure and privilege it was to work with you all these years in the past! You had been so very type and beneficiant with me, and also you had been a task mannequin in the way you labored with me and coached me – the expertise of which I’ve drawn on usually since. 

You had been the voice of motive, the smart counsel… You all the time had a smile, a twinkle in your eye, and a sort phrase as you spoke, however you commanded respect to your mind and the breadth and depth of your data about how authorities truly labored.

Your friendliness and experience helped form the constructive tradition of the Unit over a few years.

You mix an class of expression with a scepticism and worldly knowledge which is able to stand the take a look at of time because the paragon of the British public servant.

Your contributions as a supportive and engaged member of the Unit’s broader neighborhood had been all the time clear; if in case you have managed to be as current not too long ago at Unit occasions as you had been on the flip of the century, you may be doubly missed.

Bob will certainly be vastly missed. He was steadfast and dependable to all of the establishments for which he labored; unfailingly dependable, courteous and good humoured, and immensely beneficiant along with his time in addition to his knowledge and expertise. Bob was nonetheless briefing journalists on behalf of the Unit inside months of his dying. He lived a very full, energetic and helpful life, proper up till the top.  

In regards to the writer

Robert Hazell is Professor of Authorities and the Structure at UCL and the previous Director of the Structure Unit.