Tributes+pour+in+for+friend+and+hero+Cook,+Bday

Business Day, Johannesburg, 08 August 2005
=Tributes pour in for ‘friend and hero’ Cook=

LONDON — Tributes flooded in from around the political world yesterday for former British foreign secretary Robin Cook, who died after collapsing on a Scottish mountainside.

Cook, who was 59, quit the government in 2003 in protest over the Iraq war.

Politicians from all parties praised him as one of the outstanding political debaters of his era. He drew widespread praise for an eloquent resignation speech when he resigned from the government.

SA’s foreign minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, sent condolences on behalf of SA and President Thabo Mbeki on hearing the news of his death.

“The government and people of SA are saddened and shocked to learn of the untimely death of that stalwart of British politics, Robin Cook,” she said. “The people of SA have indeed lost a dear friend and a hero.”

His successor as foreign secretary, Jack Straw, called Cook “the greatest parliamentarian of his generation”.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised Cook as an intellectual and political heavyweight, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice eulogised Cook as “a friend of the US” despite his opposition to the Iraq invasion.

Cook served as foreign secretary from 1997 to 2001, and then became leader of the house of commons — the government’s top representative in parliament. He served in that post until 2003.

Cook collapsed on Saturday while walking with his wife, Gaynor, on Ben Stack mountain in northwest Scotland, and died soon after, police said. Reuters


 * From: http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/world.aspx?ID=BD4A77539**