Cooke speech

FORMER British foreign secretary Robin Cooke told Labour Party delegates that by backing the position of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, President George W Bush had walked away from 40 years of the West acting as an honest broker in Middle East politics.

Mr Cooke, a guest speaker at the Labour conference, was highly critical of the unilateralist foreign policy being pursed by the US.

Mr Cooke resigned from the British Government because of his opposition to the war in Iraq.