Leaders pay tribute to 'man of principle'

POLITICAL leaders came together yesterday to pay tribute to former British foreign secretary Robin Cook, who died on Saturday from a heart attack.

The 59-year-old Labour MP was mountain walking with his wife and friends along the summit of Ben Stack in the Scottish Highlands when he collapsed.

He is thought to have suffered a head injury when he collapsed.

Mr Cook's second wife Gaynor tried to resuscitate him for nearly 40 minutes before he was taken by air ambulance to hospital in Inverness at around 2.30pm.

Mr Cook, MP for Livingston since 1983, was not breathing when paramedics reached him and was pronounced dead after being brought by helicopter to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

News of Mr Cook's sudden death came while Prime Minister Tony Blair was away on holiday. Mr Blair praised Mr Cook as an intellectual and political heavyweight despite their clash over the decision to back the US in Iraq in 2003, when Cook quit government over the issue.

"This news will be received with immense sadness, not just in Britain but in many parts of the world," Mr Blair said.

"Robin was an outstanding, extraordinary talent - brilliant, incisive in debate, of incredible skill and persuasive power."

The Irish Labour Party's international affairs spokesman, Michael D Higgins, said Mr Cook was a huge loss to his party and to the wider European and international Labour movement.

Mr Cook spoke at the Irish Labour party's annual conference in Dublin in April 2004.

"Robin Cook was able and effective as a MP and minister and also a politician of great principle with a real vision of society and the world," said Mr Higgins.

"An internationalist in the best sense of that word, he displayed exceptional strength of character when he resigned as a government minister over his opposition to the war in Iraq."

Britain's deputy prime minister John Prescott said: "This is truly sad and tragic news. Robin was the greatest parliamentarian of his generation.

"He also made an enormous contribution to British politics in opposition and in government."

Chancellor Gordon Brown said the former foreign secretary would be mourned in every continent around the world.

Mr Brown said: "I admired and valued Robin as a colleague and friend and as one of the greatest parliamentarians of our time."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed Mr Cook as a man of "exceptional intellect, eloquence, vision and passion".

"Throughout a rich and varied life, Mr Cook displayed exceptional intellect, eloquence, vision and passion in the domestic and international arenas alike," he said.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice eulogised Mr Cook as "a friend of the United States" even though he quit in protest over the Iraq war.

"Mr Cook was a friend of the United States, a skilled diplomat, and a passionate defender of human freedom and dignity," said Ms Rice.