Brown pays tribute to ‘greatest parliamentarian’
The chancellor today hailed Robin Cook as the “most accomplished parliamentarian of our generation” who brought democracy closer to the people.
Speaking at the former foreign secretary’s funeral in Edinburgh, Gordon Brown said Mr Cook had fought for social, economic and social justice all his life, and his death “leaves a gap that can never be properly filled”.
He paid tribute to the “forensic skills, the irrefutable logic, the devastating wit, the telling phrase that made people see things in a way they had not seen them before” that had made the former MP for Livingston deliver “stunning performance after stunning performance”.
As a member of parliament for 31 years, he had exercised “a mastery that could not only bring people to their feet but could – and did – bring opponents to their knees and sometimes even to their senses”.
Mr Brown delivered the eulogy at St Giles Cathedral, where he joined Mr Cook’s widow Gaynor, his ex-wife Margaret and his two sons in paying tribute to a man who “was taken from us at the height of his powers”.
Tony Blair did not attend, but Mr Cook’s former cabinet colleagues Jack Straw and David Blunkett were among a host of senior politicians who joined the congregation.
Mr Brown said the late MP’s achievement was “not just to make great speeches but to advance great causes” – his gifts “had to serve higher goals” and he put all his talents into trying to right wrongs, equalise life chances and advance opportunity.
“Whenever there was injustice, he sought to right it. Wherever there was poverty he fought a war against it,” the chancellor said.
“He was in politics not to be something but to do something, not to get what he could but to give all that he could, there not to seek power over principle but to seek power for principle.”
He hailed Mr Cook’s “constancy in his deeply held beliefs” which remained true despite the turmoil and turbulence of political life, saying his life was a “standing reproach to those who say that power corrupts people’s beliefs”.
His work banning land mines, working for Middle East peace, advancing European unity, and sending troops to Kosovo and Sierra Leone were evidence of his “noble vision” where “the just became powerful and the powerful became just”.
Mr Cook’s powerful and eloquent resignation over Iraq “became the true measure of the man”, and saw him remain true to his conscience while winning applause even from those who disagreed with him.
“I believe that notwithstanding the real and profound disagreement with that government policy, Robin never wavered in his loyalty to the Labour party which was his political home,” the chancellor continued.
It was now up to those left behind to continue Mr Cook’s work, he said, to ensure “justice will be championed wherever there is injustice and in every corner of our country and our world”.
“And guiding us on that onward journey, now and in the days ahead, Robin’s values, Robin’s service, Robin’s passion for justice,” he said.
