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Regular-article-logo Wednesday, 02 July 2025

Blair critic Robin Cook dies after collapse

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The Telegraph Online Published 07.08.05, 12:00 AM

London, Aug. 6 (Reuters): Former British foreign secretary Robin Cook died today after collapsing while walking on a mountain in northern Scotland, police said. He was 59.

Cook served as foreign secretary from 1997 to 2001 and maintained a high public profile as a fierce critic of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq.

He resigned as Leader of the House of Commons in 2003 over the government's decision to back the US-led war.

Cook was walking with his wife today on Ben Stack mountain when he collapsed, police said.

“Mr Cook apparently took ill while walking with his wife Gaynor on Ben Stack and was removed by Stornoway coast guard helicopter to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness,” a police statement said. He died in hospital this evening, the police statement said.

Cook is a keen hill-walker, and regularly spent his summer holidays with close family and friends enjoying the dramatic mountain scenery of Highland Scotland, rather than going abroad.

A leading figure in the Labour Party for decades, Cook was put in the key job of foreign secretary when the party won power in 1997.

He was demoted to the post of leader of the Commons following Labour’s second election victory in 2001 and resigned from the cabinet in protest at the Iraq War in 2003.

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