UK: Cook quits over Iraq crisis

Cook quits over Iraq crisis
BBC News
Monday, 17 March, 2003, 17:00 GMT

Robin Cook has resigned from Tony Blair's cabinet as the build-up to apparent war with Iraq gathers pace.

The decision by the Leader of the House of Commons, one of the highest profile figures in the Labour Party, came as the cabinet held an emergency meeting in Downing Street.

Former Foreign Secretary Mr Cook, who saw Mr Blair before the meeting, said: "It is with regret I have today resigned from the cabinet.

"I can't accept collective responsibility for the decision to commit Britain now to military action in Iraq without international agreement or domestic support."

Downing Street said Mr Cook would make a full personal statement in the House of Commons on Monday evening.

There is speculation that International Development Secretary Clare Short, who has already threatened to resign, may follow Mr Cook onto the back benches on Monday.

Fallout begins

Mr Cook is the first ministerial exit over Iraq policy, and a major blow to Tony Blair as he faces a growing rebellion within his own party over his handling of the crisis.

His departure comes as the UK, US and Spain effectively abandoned efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the UK's ambassador to the UN, said the three countries "reserve their right to take their own steps to secure the disarmament of Iraq".

He put the blame for the talks breakdown on French intransigence.

Commons vote?

The White House says US President George Bush will use a television address on Monday night to say Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq if he is to avoid war.

Downing Street said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was likely to make a statement to MPs about the Iraq crisis later on Monday.

Ministers are discussing holding a new vote in Parliament on the Iraq crisis on Tuesday.

As the signs of imminent war grew, the Foreign Office advised all Britons in Kuwait, except diplomatic staff, to leave the country. The US has advised UN weapons inspectors to leave Iraq.

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, has set out the legal case for war in a written statement in the House of Lords.

He said legal authority for war came from three previous UN resolutions - including one passed soon after the Gulf War in 1991 and the latest resolution, agreed last November.

Mr Blair was reporting to the Cabinet developments from Sunday's emergency summit in the Azores with US President George Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

In an effort to win over sceptics ministers are repeating assurances about the security of Iraq's oil reserves and efforts to resolve the Palestinian crisis.

If Mr Blair goes ahead with a Commons debate on military action, MPs warn they will table an amendment stating there is no moral justification for war without a new resolution.

More Labour MPs than the 122 who voted against the government last time are expected to rebel this time.

Tory support

Ex-Labour whip Graham Allen and a group of MPs, including former cabinet minister Chris Smith, are drawing up the amendment.

It would make clear their support for British troops but challenge the "moral authority" of war.

The Conservative Party has remained steadfast in its support for Mr Blair.

But Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy told his party conference on Sunday: "If the president and the prime minister were serious about finding a peaceful solution, they'd be talking to Kofi Annan, not to each other."

The Stop The War Coalition is this Saturday set to organise a repeat of the peace rally which last month attracted between 750,000 and two million people in London.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2857637.stm