NAME: Robin Cook
AGE: Proven maturity
NATIONALITY: British
CLAIM TO FAME: Led the resignations in the House of Commons against government policy on Iraq


ONE of the biggest blows to British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his coalition with the US to wage war on Iraq came early last week with the resignation of Robin Cook, who was the leader of the House of Commons.

A respected figure and previously Blair’s foreign secretary, Robin Cook was earlier reported as saying in several British papers that he would step down if Britain went to war without proper backing by the United Nations.

When he actually did it, he got a rare standing ovation in the House of Commons after outlining the reasons for his resignation. He said none of the international institutions that Britain belonged to — the United Nations, the European Union or NATO — had endorsed military action. He is also on record as having said that Iraq posed “no serious threat” to British or US security. But it seems that those who mattered were in no mood to lend an ear to his anti-war cries.

Once a member of Blair’s inner circle, Cook had been widely considered a fading political star in recent years, but that impression has now changed. In his resignation speech, Cook said, “From the start of the present crisis, I have insisted, as Leader of the House, on the right of this place to vote on whether Britain should go to war ... It is for that reason, and for that reason alone, and with a heavy heart, that I resign from the government.”

Cook’s resignation proved to be the proverbial first drop, which was followed not much later by similar steps by Home Office Minister John Denham and Junior Health Minister Lord Philip Hunt, bringing the sum total to three so far. However, it is believed that Downing Street had been bracing itself for larger losses.

Denham’s resignation, after five years at the Home Office and Department of Health, was no less a loss to the government than that of Robin Cook. He was responsible for the police reform programme and recent preparations for a chemical and biological attack on Britain.

Lord Hunt’s resignation on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme was a bit less damaging. Nevertheless, Blair is now finding himself taking part in a war as a coalition partner that is drawing more and more criticism from all quarters — within his own country as well as abroad — and raising serious risk of tarnishing his image. The question it raises, among others, is whether his loyalty to Bush is worth it in the end. Only time will tell.