Robin Cook

The Right Honourable
Robin Cook
The Right Honourable Robin Cook
	Official portrait, 2000
President of the Party of European Socialists
	In office; 11 June 2001 – 24 July 2004
Preceded by	Rudolf Scharping
Succeeded by	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
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
Foreign Secretary
	In office; 2 May 1997 – 8 June 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Malcolm Rifkind
Succeeded by	Jack Straw
Leader
Shadow Cabinet posts
Shadow Foreign Secretary
	In office; 20 October 1994 – 2 May 1997
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Jack Cunningham
Succeeded by	John Major
Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
	In office; 18 July 1992 – 20 October 1994
Leader	John Smith; Margaret Beckett;
Preceded by	Gordon Brown
Succeeded by	Jack Cunningham
Shadow Secretary of State for Health
	In office; 2 November 1989 – 18 July 1992
Leader	Neil Kinnock
Preceded by	Michael Meacher
Succeeded by	David Blunkett
Preceded by
Parliamentary offices
Member of Parliament; for Livingston
	In office; 9 June 1983 – 6 August 2005
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Jim Devine
Member of Parliament; for Edinburgh Central
	In office; 28 February 1974 – 13 May 1983
Preceded by	Tom Oswald
Succeeded by	Alexander Fletcher
Personal details
Born	Robert Finlayson Cook; 28 February 1946; Bellshill, Scotland
Died	6 August 2005 (aged 59); Inverness, Scotland
Resting place	Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Spouses	Margaret Whitmore (m. 1969; div. 1998); Gaynor Regan; (m. 1998);
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh
Signature

Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 1946 – 6 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 when he was replaced by Jack Straw. He then served as Leader of the House of Commons from 2001 until 2003.

Cook studied at the University of Edinburgh before being elected as the Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central in 1974; he switched to the Livingston constituency in 1983. In Parliament, he was known for his debating ability and rapidly rose through the political ranks and ultimately into the Cabinet. As Foreign Secretary, he oversaw British interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone.

Cook resigned from his positions as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons on 17 March 2003 in protest against the 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.

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