Robin Cook 'seriously ill after mountain collapse'

Friends and colleagues of former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook were tonight urgently checking reports that he is seriously ill in hospital after collapsing on a mountain holiday in Scotland.

Sky TV reported that Mr Cook had been airlifted to hospital by helicopter.

Official sources would confirm only that a man had been taken to hospital in Inverness after collapsing on Ben Stack near Thurso – a well-known and beautiful site for holiday walks.