Cook, the man who quit govt over Iraq invasion

LONDON – Robin Cook, the former British foreign secretary who died on Saturday aged 59, was regarded as a brilliant speaker with a forensic debating style, who dramatically quit the government in protest over Iraq.

Cook, a keen walker, died after collapsing with an apparent heart attack whilst hiking with his wife near the summit of the 721-metre Ben Stack in the Scottish Highlands. The issue of Iraq provided the dominant moments of his chequered history as a member of the Labour Party, even before Tony Blair brought him into the top of government after winning power in 1997.One of his brightest hours came in 1996, when as opposition foreign affairs spokesman he delivered a devastating assault on then prime minister John Major’s Conservative government over an arms-to-Iraq scandal.He famously devoured a massive 2 000-page report on the controversial issue in the space of a few hours before delivering an incisive political attack seen as a crucial blow to the Tory administration.Blair rewarded him with the Foreign Office, and over the next four years he forged an “ethical” foreign policy for Britain, and supported Nato’s 1999 campaign to drive Serbian forces out of the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo.But he chose to quit Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, two days before the US and British invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that led to Saddam Hussein’s downfall.”I cannot support a war without international agreement or domestic support,” he said at the time, in one of the most powerful speeches to be heard in British politics in years.Short of stature, with his ginger hair and neatly trimmed beard, Cook himself joked ruefully that he was not suited to leadership of a major political party in a televisual age.Cartoonists gleefully depicted him as a garden gnome.Born near Glasgow, the only child of a science teacher, Robert Finlayson Cook first won election to parliament in 1974, and soon made a name for himself with his political flair – as well as a streak of arrogance.By the time he was a young man, his two great loves, politics and horse-racing, soon became apparent.He held a number of senior posts when Labour was in opposition to the Conservative Party, also including shadow health and social security secretary and chairman of the Labour Party.Once in power after Labour’s landslide election win in 1997, Cook clearly relished the Foreign Office job at the top of the government tree.But criticism grew, fuelled by his often aloof manner.And one of his roughest moments came when the tabloid press revealed that Cook had a mistress, Gaynor Regan, who was living in his London flat.Blair told Cook to end either the relationship or his 28-year marriage.He opted for the latter, dumping his first wife Margaret, the mother of his two sons, at the airport in London as they were about to depart on holiday.In 2001 Cook was effectively demoted in a Blair reshuffle, becoming leader of the House of Commons – an important but lower profile cabinet post that involves organising the government’s legislative agenda.When his memoirs were published, Cook dropped a bombshell by suggesting that Blair knew all along that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, the ostensible reason for launching the war.He easily won re-election in his central Scotland constituency of Livingstone in the general election last May that put Blair and Labour back in power for a third straight term.No longer a cabinet minister, he was a prolific commentator in the press, and many analysts expected him to make a comeback after the anticipated resignation of Blair to make way for Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.- Nampa-AFPThe issue of Iraq provided the dominant moments of his chequered history as a member of the Labour Party, even before Tony Blair brought him into the top of government after winning power in 1997.One of his brightest hours came in 1996, when as opposition foreign affairs spokesman he delivered a devastating assault on then prime minister John Major’s Conservative government over an arms-to-Iraq scandal.He famously devoured a massive 2 000-page report on the controversial issue in the space of a few hours before delivering an incisive political attack seen as a crucial blow to the Tory administration.Blair rewarded him with the Foreign Office, and over the next four years he forged an “ethical” foreign policy for Britain, and supported Nato’s 1999 campaign to drive Serbian forces out of the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo.But he chose to quit Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, two days before the US and British invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that led to Saddam Hussein’s downfall.”I cannot support a war without international agreement or domestic support,” he said at the time, in one of the most powerful speeches to be heard in British politics in years.Short of stature, with his ginger hair and neatly trimmed beard, Cook himself joked ruefully that he was not suited to leadership of a major political party in a televisual age.Cartoonists gleefully depicted him as a garden gnome.Born near Glasgow, the only child of a science teacher, Robert Finlayson Cook first won election to parliament in 1974, and soon made a name for himself with his political flair – as well as a streak of arrogance.By the time he was a young man, his two great loves, politics and horse-racing, soon became apparent.He held a number of senior posts when Labour was in opposition to the Conservative Party, also including shadow health and social security secretary and chairman of the Labour Party.Once in power after Labour’s landslide election win in 1997, Cook clearly relished the Foreign Office job at the top of the government tree.But criticism grew, fuelled by his often aloof manner.And one of his roughest moments came when the tabloid press revealed that Cook had a mistress, Gaynor Regan, who was living in his London flat.Blair told Cook to end either the relationship or his 28-year marriage.He opted for the latter, dumping his first wife Margaret, the mother of his two sons, at the airport in London as they were about to depart on holiday.In 2001 Cook was effectively demoted in a Blair reshuffle, becoming leader of the House of Commons – an important but lower profile cabinet post that involves organising the government’s legislative agenda.When his memoirs were published, Cook dropped a bombshell by suggesting that Blair knew all along that Iraq under Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, the ostensible reason for launching the war.He easily won re-election in his central Scotland constituency of Livingstone in the general election last May that put Blair and Labour back in power for a third straight term.No longer a cabinet minister, he was a prolific commentator in the press, and many analysts expected him to make a comeback after the anticipated resignation of Blair to make way for Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown.- Nampa-AFP