ROBIN COOK, the former foreign secretary, died yesterday after collapsing while walking with his wife in the Scottish Highlands. He was 59.

The MP for Livingston was airlifted by RAF helicopter from Ben Stack in northwest Sutherland to Raigmore hospital in Inverness, where he was pronounced dead at 4.05pm.
Last night Tony Blair paid tribute, saying: “Robin was an outstanding, extraordinary talent — brilliant, incisive in debate, of incredible skill and persuasive power.

“Though we disagreed over Iraq, I always respected the way in which he put his case.”

The only son of a headmaster from a Lanarkshire mining family, he was a keen hillwalker and spent his summer holidays with close family and friends enjoying the Highlands.

The father-of-two’s second wife, Gaynor, was at his side when he collapsed near the peak of the 2,365ft mountain in near-perfect weather. He is thought to have suffered a heart attack and fell on a steep and rocky section, receiving head and neck injuries.

Gaynor alerted a group of walkers and the alarm was raised at 2.20pm and passed to the air rescue co-ordination centre at RAF Kinloss. The mountain is one of Scotland’s most remote, at the end of a 37-mile single-track road, and at 2.34pm the Stornoway coastguard helicopter was scrambled.

One of the walkers gave Cook heart massage for half an hour and attempted to resuscitate him while receiving instructions from medics over the phone.

The helicopter arrived at 3.01pm and winchman George Chrossan was lowered to the MP, who was winched up and flown to hospital.

Gaynor, 48, returned to the bottom of the mountain on foot and was taken to the hospital by police.

Cook’s first wife, Margaret, said: “It is a tragedy. He always loved the Highlands — I used to worry desperately when he was up there — but he was an adventurous man who loved to push himself to the limit. I will be speaking to our sons as soon as possible. They will be devastated, as he enjoyed a very good relationship with them.”

The couple’s younger son, Peter, is 31, was thought to be in England and their elder son Christopher, 32, was at his home in Scotland.

Cook married his secretary Gaynor in 1998 shortly after their affair came to light three months after Blair had appointed him foreign secretary in his first cabinet.

He heeded the advice of Alastair Campbell, Blair’s communications chief, to be decisive. When Campbell telephoned him at Heathrow airport to tell him to choose between his wife and mistress, Cook famously informed his wife that the marriage was over in the VIP departure lounge.

After the 2001 election Cook was made leader of the Commons, but resigned in March 2003 in protest over the invasion of Iraq. He became a vocal although dignified opponent of Blair from the back benches.

Cook would almost certainly have returned to the front bench in a Gordon Brown government, according to Brown’s allies. He recently visited Brown’s Fife constituency home, signalling that they had settled differences that arose when both were young politicians in Scotland.

The chancellor last night described him as “one of the greatest parliamentarians of our time”. He said: “Robin’s mastery of the House of Commons was acknowledged on all sides and his incisive mind, forensic skills and formidable and wide-ranging debating prowess were seen by the public very clearly when in opposition he led the response to the Scott inquiry.”

The inquiry into the arms to Iraq scandal was widely regarded as Cook’s greatest moment in opposition, as he forensically attacked the John Major government over the scandal in the early 1990s.

Chris Smith, former Labour MP and cabinet minister, said: “He could be acerbic but he could also be warm and kind. He could be devastating to his political opponents as he was over the Scott inquiry through his caustic wit, but he still carried the respect of the house because they admired the quality of the man.”

As foreign secretary he will be best remembered for introducing an “ethical foreign policy” and later for attempting to modernise the workings of parliament.

Alastair Campbell said: “Robin did show at the time of Iraq that it is totally possible to have a principled and honourable disagreement over a massively important piece of government policy but without it becoming overly personal, without it becoming overly nasty.”

Cook was a keen “Munro bagger”, those aiming to climb all 284 Scottish peaks over 3000ft, whose fans also included John Smith, the former Labour leader who died suddenly of a heart attack in 1994 aged 55.

He revealed earlier this year that two years ago he had suffered from low blood pressure which had caused him to collapse in a restaurant.

It is believed the Cooks had been staying at a hotel in Ullapool. Ben Stack is believed locally to be the inspiration for JRR Tolkein’s Middle-Earth and is described by locals as a half-day climb. In parts it is steep and climbers have to scramble over rocks.

A report will be sent to the procurator fiscal and a post-mortem examination will be held tomorrow.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• What makes the perfect mum?
• To keep me stress-free, no more awareness days, please
• What do lottery winners buy?