Sir Robert Milton Worcester, (born 21 December 1933) is an American-born British pollster who is the founder of

MORI Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname * Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesare Mori, Italian "Iron Prefect" * Claudia Mori, Italian actress, singer, televisio ...

(Market & Opinion Research International Ltd.) and a member and contributor to many voluntary organisations. He is a well-known figure in British public opinion research and political circles and as a media commentator, especially about voting intentions in British and American elections.

Early life

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

native, Worcester graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

in 1955, and following service in the US Army Corps of Engineers in Korea worked with management consultants

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

Career

In 1965, Worcester joined Opinion Research Corporation as chief financial officer before coming to Britain in 1969 to found

, then a joint-venture of ORC and National Opinion Polls, becoming the principal owner four years later. In the 1970s MORI was appointed as the Labour Party’s opinion pollsters and Worcester therefore acted as advisor to the then Prime Minister,

James Callaghan Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the L ...

. He was appointed chancellor of the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

in 2007 and retired from the role in 2014 and was succeeded by Gavin Esler. He is an emeritus governor of the London School of Economics and Political Science and visiting professor in the Government Department and is also visiting professor in the Institute of Contemporary British History at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. He is also honorary professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at

Warwick University The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a ...

. Earlier he was visiting professor in the Graduate Centre for Journalism at City University and in the Department of Marketing at Strathclyde University. He is the Chancellor's Lecturer and adjunct professor of political science at the

. Worcester was principal investigator for the

World Values Survey The World Values Survey (WVS) is a global research project that explores people's values and beliefs, how they change over time, and what social and political impact they have. Since 1981 a worldwide network of social scientists have conducted ...

in Trinidad and Tobago (2006, 2010) and United Kingdom (1998). For two years he served as the president of the World Association for Public Opinion Research. He became a Patron of the UK Market Research Society in October 2012. He is deputy chairman and trustee of the Magna Carta Trust and currently chairs the Magna Carta 2015 800th Anniversary Commemoration Committee, and is a governor of the Ditchley Foundation. He is also a former member of the

Fulbright Commission The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

and a former governor of the English-Speaking Union and co-chaired with Lord Watson the Jamestown 400th Commemoration British Committee (2005–07). He is immediate past president and former chair of the advisory council of the Institute for Business Ethics and has been on the Corporate Responsibility Advisory Board of Camelot. He was a member of the advisory council of the National Consumer Council and Forum for the Future. He is a vice-president of the

Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts The Wildlife Trusts, the trading name of the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, is an organisation made up of 46 local Wildlife Trusts in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney. The Wildlife Trusts, between them, look after more than 2, ...

, of the

United Nations Association A United Nations Association (UNA) is a non-governmental organization that exists in various countries to enhance the relationship between the people of member states and the United Nations to raise public awareness of the UN and its work, to promo ...

and of the European Atlantic Group and was president of ENCAMS (Keep Britain Tidy). He is currently a vice-president and was a trustee of Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and was a

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named th ...

(WWF) trustee. He is a vice-president of Protect Kent, the Kent Branch of the

Campaign to Protect Rural England Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar produ ...

. From 1993 to 2010, he was chairman of the Pilgrims Society. Worcester is a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and a Kent County Council appointed Kent Ambassador. He was a non-executive director of Kent Messenger Group and chairman of Maidstone Radio, CTR 105.4 fm, and was a non-executive director of the Medway Maritime Hospital NHS Trust until 2004. Following the sale of MORI to the French research company

Ipsos Ipsos Group S.A. (; derived from the Latin expression, ) is a multinational market research and consulting firm with headquarters in Paris, France. The company was founded in 1975 by Didier Truchot, Chairman of the company, and has been publ ...

in October 2005, he became chairman of the Ipsos Public Affairs Research Advisory Board and an International Director of the Ipsos Group. Subsequently, in 2007 he became senior advisor to Ipsos MORI.

Personal life

Worcester holds joint American and British citizenship. He and his wife, Margaret, lived at the 13th-century Allington Castle, on the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, West Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

in Kent. Lady Margaret died peacefully on 20 December 2020, aged 87.

Awards and honours

He was appointed

Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

(KBE) in 2005 in recognition of the "outstanding services rendered to political, social and economic research and for contribution to government policy and programmes".Sir Robert receives knighthood
kentonline.co.uk. Accessed 21 December 2022. He is an Honorary Fellow of the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the University ...

and of

, holds six honorary doctorates, and the Distinguished Graduate award of the

References

External links

*
LSE British Politics and Policy: Worcester's Blog
– Politics Blog by Robert Worcester

– talk by Robert Worcester at the 2001

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973, principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

meeting
Interviewed on ANN TV 2015 about the Magna Carta and on democracy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worcester, Robert 1933 births Living people Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Voting theorists Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom English businesspeople Chancellors of the University of Kent Fellows of King's College London American emigrants to England Deputy lieutenants of Kent British management consultants McKinsey & Company people Chief financial officers Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics