Robin Cook

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Right Honourable  Robin Cook
Leader of the House of Commons Lord President of the Council
In office 8 June 2001 – 17 March 2003
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Margaret Beckett
Succeeded by	John Reid
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 2 May 1997 – 8 June 2001
Preceded by	Malcolm Rifkind
Succeeded by	Jack Straw
Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central
In office 28 February 1974 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Thomas Oswald
Succeeded by	Alexander Fletcher
Member of Parliament for Livingston
In office 9 June 1983 – 6 August 2005
Preceded by	(new constituency)
Succeeded by	Jim Devine
Born	28 February 1946(1946-02-28) Bellshill, Scotland
Died	6 August 2005 (aged 59) Inverness, Scotland
Political party	Labour

Robert Finlayson Cook (28 February 1946 – 6 August 2005), better known as known as "Robin Cook", was a politician in the British Labour Party. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2001. He resigned from his post as Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council on 17 March 2003 in protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the time of his death he was president of the Foreign Policy Centre and a vice-president of the America All Party Parliamentary Group and the Global Security and Non-Proliferation All Party Parliamentary Group.

[edit] Background and personal life

Robin Cook was born in Bellshill, Scotland, the only son of Peter and Christina Cook. His father was a science teacher and his grandfather was a miner before being blacklisted for being involved in a strike. He studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh earning an MA, and after a brief period as a schoolteacher became a local councillor in Edinburgh in 1971. He was introduced to horse racing by his wife, Margaret Cook (whom he married in 1969 and with whom he had two sons, Peter and Christopher) and worked as a racing tipster in his spare time.

Shortly after he became Foreign Secretary, Cook ended his marriage with Margaret, revealing that he had an extra-marital affair with one of his staff, Gaynor Regan.^[1] He announced his intentions to leave his wife and marry another woman via a press statement made at Heathrow. Cook was forced in to a decision over his private life after a telephone conversation with Alastair Campbell as he was about to go on holiday with his first wife. Campbell explained that the press was about to break the story of his affair with Regan. His estranged wife subsequently accused him of having had several extramarital affairs and alleged he was an alcoholic. He married Regan in 1998, shortly after his divorce was finalised.

[edit] Parliamentary career

Cook unsuccessfully contested the Edinburgh North constituency in the 1970 general election, but was elected to the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election as Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central. When constituency boundaries were revised for the 1983 general election, he transferred to the new Livingston constituency, which he represented until his death.

In parliament, he joined the left-wing Tribune Group of the Parliamentary Labour Party and frequently opposed the policies of the Wilson and Callaghan governments. He was an early supporter of constitutional and electoral reform (although he opposed devolution in the 1979 referendum, eventually coming out in favour on election night in 1983), and of efforts to gain more women MPs. He also supported unilateral nuclear disarmament and the abandoning of the Labour Party's euroscepticism of the 1970s and 1980s. Despite his role in modernising the party under Kinnock and Smith, Cook was said to be never fully committed to Blair's "New Labour" project, considering it a step too far to the right.

He became known as a brilliant parliamentary debater, and rose through the party ranks, becoming a frontbench spokesman in 1980, and reaching the Shadow Cabinet in 1987, as Shadow Social Services Secretary. He was campaign manager for Neil Kinnock's successful 1983 bid to become leader of the Labour Party, and was one of the key figures in the modernization of the Labour Party under Kinnock. He was Shadow Health Secretary (1989-92) and Shadow Trade Secretary (1992-94), before taking on foreign affairs in 1994, the post he would become most identified with (Shadow Foreign Secretary 1994-97, Foreign Secretary 1997-2001).

In 1994, following the death of John Smith, he ruled himself out of contention for the Labour leadership, apparently on the grounds that he was insufficiently attractive to be an election winner, although two close family bereavements in the week in which the decision had to be made may have contributed.

On 26 February 1996, following the publication of the Scott Report into the 'Arms-to-Iraq' affair, he made a famous speech in response to the then President of the Board of Trade Ian Lang in which he said "this is not just a Government which does not know how to accept blame; it is a Government which knows no shame". His parliamentary performance on the occasion of the publication of the five-volume, 2,000-page Scott Report — which he claimed he was given just two hours to read before the relevant debate, thus giving him three seconds to read every page — was widely praised on both sides of the House as one of the best performances the Commons had seen in years, and one of Cook's finest hours.

Portrait of Robin Cook and his dogs, Tammy and Tasker, by Edinburgh artist, Fionna Carlisle, completed in 2005 and now on permanent display in the House of Commons Gallery. In the lower right is a copy of Hansard, dated 17 March 2003, the day he resigned from the Cabinet over the decision to go to war with Iraq.

As Joint Chair (alongside Liberal Democrat MP Robert Maclennan) of the Labour-Liberal Democrat Joint Consultative Committee on Constitutional Reform, Cook brokered the 'Cook-Maclennan Agreement' that laid the basis for the fundamental reshaping of the British constitution outlined in Labour's 1997 General Election manifesto. This led to legislation for major reforms including Scottish and Welsh devolution, the Human Rights Act and removing the majority of hereditary peers from the House of Lords. Others have remained elusive so far, such as a referendum on the electoral system and further House of Lords reform.

After his 2003 resignation from the Cabinet, Cook remained an active backbench Member of Parliament until his death. After leaving the Government, Cook was a leading analyst of the decision to go to war in Iraq, giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee which was later relevant during the Hutton and Butler inquiries. He was sceptical of the proposals contained in the Government's Higher Education Bill, and abstained on its Second Reading.^[2] He also took strong positions in favour of both the proposed European Constitution,^[3] and a majority-elected House of Lords,^[4][5] about which he said (whilst Leader of the Commons), "I do not see how [the House of Lords] can be a democratic second Chamber if it is also an election-free zone".

In the years after his exit from the Foreign Office, and particularly since his resignation from the Cabinet, Cook made up with Gordon Brown after decades of personal animosity^[6] — an unlikely reconciliation after a mediation attempt by Frank Dobson in the early 1990s had seen Dobson conclude (to John Smith) "You're right. They hate each other." Cook and Brown focused on their common political ground, discussing how to firmly entrench progressive politics after the exit of Tony Blair.^[7] Chris Smith said in 2005 that in recent years Cook had been setting out a vision of "libertarian, democratic socialism that was beginning to break the sometimes sterile boundaries of 'old' and 'New' Labour labels."^[8] Some commentators and senior politicians said that Cook seemed destined for a senior Cabinet post under a Brown premiership.^[9]

[edit] In government

[edit] Foreign Secretary

With the election of a Labour government at the 1997 general election, Cook became Foreign Secretary. He was believed to have coveted the job of Chancellor of the Exchequer, but that job was reportedly promised by Tony Blair to Gordon Brown. He announced, to much scepticism, his intention to add "an ethical dimension" to foreign policy.

His term as Foreign Secretary was marked by British interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Both of these were controversial, the former because it was not sanctioned by the UN Security Council, and the latter because of allegations that the British company Sandline International had supplied arms to supporters of the deposed president in contravention of a United Nations embargo. Cook was also embarrassed when his apparent offer to mediate in the dispute between India and Pakistan over Kashmir was rebuffed. The ethical dimension of his policies was subject to inevitable scrutiny, leading to criticism at times.

He is credited with having helped resolve the eight-year impasse over the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial by getting Libya to agree to hand over the two accused (Megrahi and Fhimah) in 1999, for trial in the neutral venue of the Netherlands but according to Scots law.

In March 1998, a diplomatic rift ensued with Israel when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily canceled a dinner with Cook, while Cook was visiting Israel and had demonstrated opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements.^[10]

[edit] Leader of the House of Commons

After the 2001 general election he was moved, against his wishes, from the Foreign Office to be Leader of the House of Commons. This was widely seen as a demotion — although it is a Cabinet post, it is substantially less prestigious than the Foreign Office — and Cook nearly turned it down. In the event he accepted, and looking on the bright side welcomed the chance to spend more time on his favourite stage. According to The Observer,^[11] it was Blair's fears over political battles within the Cabinet over Europe, and especially the euro, which saw him unexpectedly demote the pro-European Cook.

As Leader of the House he was responsible for reforming the hours and practices of the Commons and for leading the debate on reform of the House of Lords. He also spoke for the Government during the controversy surrounding the membership of Commons Select Committees which arose in 2001, where Government whips were accused of pushing aside the outspoken committee chairs Gwyneth Dunwoody and Donald Anderson. He was President of the Party of European Socialists from May 2001 to April 2004.

In early 2003, during a live television appearance on BBC current affairs show Question Time, he was inadvertently referred to as "Robin Cock" by David Dimbleby. Cook responded with attempted good humour with "Yes, David Bumblebee", and Dimbleby apologised twice on air for his slip. The episode also saw Cook in the uncomfortable position of defending the Government's stance over the impending invasion of Iraq, weeks before his resignation over the issue.

He documented his time as Leader of the House of Commons in a widely acclaimed book 'The Point of Departure', which discussed in diary form his efforts to reform the House of Lords and to persuade his ministerial colleagues, including Tony Blair, to distance the Labour Government from the foreign policy of the Bush administration. The former Political Editor of Channel 4 News, Elinor Goodman called the book 'the best insight yet into the workings of the Blair cabinet', whilst the former Editor of The Observer, Will Hutton, called it 'the political book of the year - a lucid and compelling insider's account of the two years that define the Blair Prime Ministership'.

[edit] Resignation over Iraq war

In early 2003 he was reported to be one of the cabinet's chief opponents of military action against Iraq, and on 17 March he resigned from the Cabinet. In a statement giving his reasons for resigning he said, "I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support." He also praised Blair's "heroic efforts" in pushing for the so-called second resolution regarding the Iraq disarmament crisis. Cook's resignation speech in the House of Commons, received with an unprecedented standing ovation by fellow MPs, was described by the BBC's Andrew Marr as "without doubt one of the most effective, brilliant, resignation speeches in modern British politics."^[12] Most unusually for the British parliament, Cook's speech was met with growing applause from all sides of the House (beginning with Labour and Liberal Democrat critics of the war), and from the public gallery. According to the Economist's obituary, that was the first speech ever to receive a standing ovation in the history of the House, Tony Blair's resignation speech being the second and most recent.

[edit] Al-Qaida

Cook described Al-Qaida as a product of a western miscalculation, in a 2005 newspaper column:

"Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."^[13]

[edit] Death and conflicting reports

On 6 August 2005, Cook was with Gaynor on the mountain Ben Stack in Sutherland, Scotland, when he suffered a severe heart attack. Some early reports suggested that he had died before reaching the summit,^[14] but according to his last SMS he had already climbed it and was descending,^[15] despite earlier reports that neither of the walkers had a mobile phone. Cook's wife said that he collapsed and that she had called out and attracted a stranger in order to use his mobile at 2:23 pm. Due to the lack of time, Gaynor was not winched onto the helicopter and walked down the mountain with the wanderer.^[16] Cook was flown from the mountain at 3:01 pm, to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where he was pronounced dead at 4:05 pm. The post mortem revealed that Cook died of hypertensive heart disease,^[17] although the paramedics at the scene had speculated that he died of a broken neck.

[edit] Funeral

A funeral service was held on 12 August 2005, at St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, even though Cook had been an atheist.^[18] Gordon Brown gave the eulogy, and then German foreign minister Joschka Fischer was one of the attendees. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was on holiday at the time, did not attend the funeral. In his speech at the funeral, Cook's friend, the eccentric racing pundit, John McCririck, denounced Blair for not attending. Though many thought Blair had snubbed Cook, the majority of the congregation felt that what McCririck had said was inappropriate, especially as he was invited to talk about Cook's love for horse racing.

In January 2007, a headstone was erected in Grange Cemetery in Edinburgh where Cook is buried with the message: "I may not have succeeded in halting the war, but I did secure the right of parliament to decide on war." It is a reference to Cook's strong opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the words were reportedly chosen by his wife and his two sons from his previous marriage, Chris and Peter.^[19]

Cook's death was to be followed 13 days later by the death of fellow former cabinet member, Mo Mowlam.

In 2003, Cook came ninth in The Glasgow Herald's poll, The Most Scottish Person in the World.

[edit] Bibliography

• The Point of Departure by Robin Cook (Simon & Schuster, 2003) ISBN 0-7432-5255-1

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Robin Cook

Wikinews has related news:

Robin Cook dies after a collapse

• Guardian Unlimited Politics — Special Report: Robin Cook (1946 - 2005)
• TheyWorkForYou.com — Robin Cook MP
• NNDB — Robin Cook
• Cook's "ethical foreign policy" speech, 12 May 1997
• Cook's resignation statement in the House, 17 March 2003
• The Fruitceller 2 - A huge Video Archive for the Anti-War Movement Contains video of Robin Cooks resignation speech AND the Arms to Iraq Enquiry

Articles

• Robin Cook's chicken tikka masala speech, Robin Cook, The Guardian, 19 April 2001.
• "Obituary: Remembering Robin Cook One year on" from Labour Party (Ireland)
• "Obituary: Robin Cook" from BBC News
• "Obituary: Robin Cook" from The Guardian
• Cook resigns from cabinet over Iraq, Matthew Tempest, The Guardian, 17 March 2003
• "The sacrifice", Kamal Ahmed, The Observer, June 10, 2001
• "Worse than irrelevant", Robin Cook's last article, The Guardian, 29 July 2005
• From the Lords to Lebanon, Labour misses Robin Cook, David Clark, Guardian Unlimited, 5 August 2006.
• Lingering Questions about Robin Cook's Death

v • d • e Foreign Secretaries of the United Kingdom Charles James Fox · Baron Grantham · George Nugent-Temple-Grenville · Duke of Leeds · Lord Grenville · Lord Hawkesbury · Earl of Harrowby · Earl of Mulgrave · Howick · George Canning · Henry Bathurst · Richard Wellesley · Viscount Castlereagh · Earl of Dudley · Earl of Aberdeen · Viscount Palmerston · Duke of Wellington · Earl Granville · Earl of Malmesbury · Earl Russell · Earl of Clarendon · Earl of Malmesbury · Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby · Marquess of Salisbury · Earl Granville · Earl of Rosebery · Earl of Iddesleigh · Earl of Rosebery · Earl of Kimberley · Marquess of Lansdowne · Viscount Grey of Fallodon · Arthur Balfour · George Curzon · Ramsay MacDonald · Austen Chamberlain · Arthur Henderson · Marquess of Reading · Viscount Simon · Samuel Hoare · Anthony Eden · Earl of Halifax · Ernest Bevin · Herbert Morrison · Harold Macmillan · Selwyn Lloyd · Alec Douglas-Home · Rab Butler · Patrick Gordon Walker · Michael Stewart · George Brown · James Callaghan · Anthony Crosland · David Owen · Peter Carrington · Francis Pym · Geoffrey Howe · John Major · Douglas Hurd · Malcolm Rifkind · Robin Cook · Jack Straw · Margaret Beckett · David Miliband