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
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[a] In office 2 November 1989 – 18 July 1992 Leader Neil Kinnock Preceded by Michael Meacher Succeeded by David Blunkett
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 (1946-02-28)28 February 1946 Bellshill, Scotland
Died	6 August 2005(2005-08-06) (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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