| Robin Cook  AKA Robert Finlayson Cook
Born: 28-Feb-1946
Birthplace: Belshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died: 6-Aug-2005
Location of death: Ben Stack Mountain, Scotland
Cause of death: Heart Failure
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Politician Nationality: Scotland
Executive summary: UK Foreign Secretary, 1997-2001 Scottish-born Robin Cook joined Parliament as a left-winger, after a time he moved towards the center. As a member of the Labour party he served as Shadow Foreign Secretary starting in 1994, becoming Foreign Secretary in 1997. A cabinet reshuffling in 2001 demoted him from this position to Leader of the House of Commons. He abruptly resigned that position in 2003, later citing disappointment with himself for not having persuaded Prime Minister Tony Blair from going to war in Iraq. Cook collapsed and died while hiking in the Scottish Highlands, near the summit of Ben Stack Mountain, and was pronounced dead at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. Cook is acknowledged as one of the brilliant politicians of his generation, Blair calling him an "outstanding, extraordinary talent."
Scandal erupted in 2001 when tabloid News of the World revealed that he engaged in an affair with his secretary, Gaynor Regan, and the further juicy tidbit that Cook notified his wife Margaret of the affair in a phone call from the VIP lounge at Heathrow Airport immediately before a vacation. They divorced in 1998, and Cook married Gaynor in secret. Former secretary Anne Bullen made noises that she was fired in preparation of Regan's hiring as her replacement, and while Bullen was indeed fired, Regan was never hired in her stead. Ex-wife Margaret wrote a tell-all book, A Slight and Delicate Creature, in 1999.
Father: Peter Cook (schoolteacher)
Mother: Christina
Wife: Margaret Cook (haematologist, m. 1969, div. 13-Mar-1998, two sons)
Son: Peter
Son: Christopher
Wife: Gaynor Regan (his secretary and former mistress, m. 19-Apr-1998)
High School: Aberdeen Grammar School
University: MA English Literature, University of Edinburgh
Lord President of the Council (2001-03)
UK Leader of the House of Commons (2001-03)
UK Foreign Secretary (1997-2001)
UK Member of Parliament for Livingston (1983-2005)
UK Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central (1974-82)
Fabian Society
Labour Party (UK) Chairman (1996-97)
Funeral: Diana, Princess of Wales (1997)
Official Website:
http://www.robincook.org.uk/
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