Richard Moore (diplomat)

Richard Peter Moore, CMG (born 9 May 1963) is a British civil servant, currently the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and formerly the Director General, Political, at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[1][2][3][4] He was previously the British Ambassador to Turkey.[1][3][4]

Richard Moore CMG
Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2020
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Sir Alex Younger
Director General, Political, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
In office April 2018 – 30 September 2020
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Karen Pierce
Succeeded by	Sir Tim Barrow
British Ambassador to Turkey
In office January 2014 – December 2017
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	David Reddaway
Succeeded by	Dominick Chilcott
Personal details
Born	9 May 1963 Tripoli, Libya
Spouse(s)	Margaret Patricia Isabel Martin (Maggie)
Alma mater	Worcester College, Oxford (BA) Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University Stanford Graduate School of Business

Education

Moore attended St George's College, Weybridge, a Roman Catholic independent school in Surrey.[3] Afterwards, he studied PPE at Worcester College, Oxford where he gained a bachelor's degree.[1][3] He then won a Kennedy Scholarship to study at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University.[1][3] In 2007, he attended the Stanford Executive Programme.[1][3]

Career

Moore's notable career has been in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and in Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service.[3] He has had postings in Vietnam in 1988, Turkey in 1990 and from 1991 to 1992, Pakistan from 1995 to 1998, Iran from 1992 to 1995 and Malaysia from 2001 to 2005 where he undertook a variety of roles, including working for the Secret Intelligence Service.[1][3][5] He was the section head of the Security Policy Group at the FCDO from 1998 to 2001 and the Deputy Director of the Middle East from 2005 to 2008.[3]

Moore, more recently, was Director for Programmes and Change from 2008 to 2010, and Director for Europe, Latin America and Globalization from 2010 to 2012.[1][3]

Moore's first prominent appointment was as the British Ambassador to Turkey. He held this post for three years, from 2014 to 2017.[1][3][4] He spent a short period of time working as Deputy National Security Advisor (Intelligence, Security and Resilience) in 2018.[3][4] He held the appointment of Director-General, Political in the FCDO from 2018 until August 2020.[1][3][4] On the 29 July 2020, it was announced that Moore would become the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in autumn 2020.[5][6] He took up this position on the 1 October of the same year.[4]

Personal life

Moore was born in Tripoli, Libya on the 9 May 1963 to John Robert Moore and (Norah) Patricia Moore (née Buckley).[3] In 1985, he married Margaret Patricia Isabel Martin (Maggie), with whom he has had a son and a daughter.[3]

In his spare time, Moore enjoys: golf; watching cricket and rugby; reading; TV; travel; hiking; scuba-diving; Turkish carpets and porcelain; and visiting historical sites.[1][3] He is fluent in Turkish.[7]

References

1. "Richard Moore CMG". HM Government. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
2. British Embassy Beirut. "FCO Political Director in Lebanon, discusses security". HM Government. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
3. "Moore, Richard Peter". Who's Who 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
4. "Richard Moore @UKPolDirRichard". Twitter. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
5. Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Dominic Raab. "Appointment of the new Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)". HM Government. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
6. "MI6: Richard Moore named as new head of Secret Intelligence Service". BBC News. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
7. "Ex-Ambassador Made Head of British Intelligence Service MI6". The New York Times. Associated Press. 29 July 2020. Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.