Editing Robin Cook (section)

===Foreign Secretary===

[[File:Defense.gov News Photo 971204-D-2987S-004.jpg|thumb|Cook with [[United States Secretary of Defense]] [[William Cohen]] in December 1997]]

With the election of a Labour government led by [[Tony Blair]] at the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997 general election]], Cook became Foreign Secretary. He was believed to have coveted the job of [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], but that job was reportedly promised by Tony Blair to [[Gordon Brown]]. He announced, to much scepticism, his intention to add "an ethical dimension" to foreign policy.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

His term as Foreign Secretary was marked by British interventions in [[Kosovo]] and [[Sierra Leone]]. Both of these were controversial, the former because it was not sanctioned by the [[UN Security Council]], and the latter because of allegations that the British company [[Sandline International]] had supplied arms to supporters of the deposed president in contravention of a United Nations embargo.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/05/98/arms_to_africa_row/95823.stm|title=UK Government faces Sierra Leone grilling|work=BBC News|date=18 May 1998|access-date=13 June 2014|archive-date=26 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826115557/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/05/98/arms_to_africa_row/95823.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Cook was also embarrassed when his apparent offer to mediate in the dispute between India and Pakistan over [[Kashmir]] was rebuffed. The ethical dimension of his policies was subject to inevitable scrutiny, leading to criticism at times.

Cook was responsible for achieving the agreement between the UK and [[Iran]] that ended the Iranian death threat against author [[Salman Rushdie]], allowing both nations to normalize diplomatic relations.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} He is also credited with having helped resolve the eight-year [[impasse]] over the [[Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial]] by getting [[Libya]] to agree to hand over the two accused ([[Megrahi]] and [[Fhimah]]) in 1999, for trial in the Netherlands according to [[Scots law]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

In March 1998, a diplomatic rift ensued with Israel when Israeli Prime Minister [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] cancelled a dinner with Cook, while Cook was visiting Israel and had demonstrated opposition to the expansion of Israeli settlements.<ref>{{cite news|last=Schmemann|first=Serge|title=Netanyahu Angrily Cancels Dinner With Visiting Briton|date=18 March 1998|access-date=24 June 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/18/world/netanyahu-angrily-cancels-dinner-with-visiting-briton.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|archive-date=1 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110601183631/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/18/world/netanyahu-angrily-cancels-dinner-with-visiting-briton.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although reported to have had republican sympathies,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1346189/Prescott-and-Beckett-fuel-Labour-split-on-monarchy.html|title=Prescott and Beckett fuel Labour split on monarchy|last=Cracknell |first=David |access-date=25 June 2016 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160920073720/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1346189/Prescott-and-Beckett-fuel-Labour-split-on-monarchy.html|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> he and [[Queen Elizabeth II]] were said to be on good terms due to their mutual interest in horses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2012/06/the-turf-all-the-queens-horses/|title=All the Queen's horses {{!}} The Spectator|date=2 June 2012|language=en-US|access-date=25 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812103648/http://www.spectator.co.uk/2012/06/the-turf-all-the-queens-horses/|archive-date=12 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>