Keith Morris

Who is Keith Morris?

Sir Keith Morris is a British diplomat who was Ambassador in Bogotá, Colombia, and is best known for his stance on the war on drugs, and his involvement in the 1970 Bobby Moore arrest controversy.

Morris was educated at King's College, Taunton, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and Amherst College, Massachusetts. He did his National Service in the Royal Navy from 1952 - 1954. He joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1959. His postings were: Dakar, 1960; Algiers, 1962; London, 1963; Paris, 1964; Bogota, 1967; London, 1971; Warsaw, 1976; Mexico City, 1979; Head of Personnel Policy Department, London, 1984; a sabbatical at the Royal College of Defence Studies, 1986; Milan, 1987;and British Ambassador to Colombia, Bogotá, 1990.

Morris was First Secretary of the British Embassy in Bogotá in 1970 when the England football team came to play a warm-up game in the run-up to the World Cup later that year in Mexico City. Bobby Moore, the captain of the team, was accused of stealing an emerald bracelet from the hotel shop. On 25 May, Mr Moore was charged and placed under house arrest at the home of a local football official but was freed three days later with conditions, so that he could play in the World Cup in Mexico. The case was not officially closed until 1975.