ROBIN COOK DELIVERS HIS RESIGNATION SPEECH ON THE SEVENTEENTH OF MARCH, 2001
There is an increasing tendency in this country to accord Robin Cook some sort of Sainthood.
His former wife Margaret writes today in the Mail on Sunday, whether through belief or financial necessity, I am not sure, but it would be churlish to deny that his resignation from Blair's Government over the Iraq War when he was Leader of the House was anything but honourable.
He finished his resignation speech with the following lines, "The longer I have served in this place, the greater the respect I have for the good sense and collective wisdom of the British people. On Iraq, I believe that the prevailing mood of the British people is sound. They do not doubt that Saddam is a brutal dictator, but they are not persuaded that he is a clear and present danger to Britain.''
How prescient those words sound and how true. But he was not so honourable on other issues. Before Labour came into power he had dumped all his Socialist beliefs from Trident to the Unions and all areas in between. As Foreign Secretary in the new Government from 97-2001, he had bleated that Britain would follow an 'ETHICAL FORIEGN POLICY' which meant that no arms would be sold to countries with dodgy human rights issues either towards their own people or their neighbours. During this time he sanctioned arms deals with such upright countries as Sierra Leone and Indonesia in total contravention of his own ethical guidelines.
So SHITEBAG or MAN of HONOUR? Sorry it's SHITEBAG FOR ME!
