Editing Robin Cook (section)

==Personal life==

Cook's first wife was Margaret Katherine Whitmore, from [[Somerset]], whom he met at Edinburgh University. They married on 15 September 1969 at St Alban's Church, [[Westbury Park, Bristol]]<ref>Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.</ref> and had two sons.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1495724/Robin-Cook.html|title=Robin Cook|date=8 August 2005|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706192826/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1495724/Robin-Cook.html|archive-date=6 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4132814.stm|title=Cook's wife talks of 'great love'|date=8 August 2005|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070116035601/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4132814.stm|archive-date=16 January 2007|url-status=live}}</ref>

Shortly after he became [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]], Cook ended his relationship with Margaret, revealing that he was having an [[extramarital affair]] with one of his staff, Gaynor Regan. He announced his intentions to leave his wife via a press statement made at [[Heathrow]] on 2 August 1997. Cook was forced into a decision over his private life following a telephone conversation with [[Alastair Campbell]] as he was about to go on holiday with his first wife. Campbell explained that the press was about to break the story of his affair with Regan. His estranged wife subsequently accused him of having had several extramarital affairs and alleged he had a habit of drinking heavily.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/252341.stm|title=Cook 'had six lovers'|date=10 January 1999|publisher=[[BBC]]|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427100528/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/252341.stm|archive-date=27 April 2006|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1495638/Robin-Cook.html|title=Robin Cook|date=6 August 2005|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=7 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706191233/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1495638/Robin-Cook.html|archive-date=6 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Cook married Regan in [[Borough of Tunbridge Wells|Tunbridge Wells]], Kent,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|title=Marriages England and Wales 1984–2005|publisher=Findmypast.com|access-date=24 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627024414/http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|archive-date=27 June 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> on 9 April 1998, four weeks after his divorce was finalised.

Introduced to [[United Kingdom horse-racing|horse racing]] by his first wife, Cook was a [[racing tipster]] in his spare time. Between 1991 and 1998 Cook wrote a weekly tipster's column for Glasgow's <!-- "The Herald" from 1992. -->''[[The Herald (Glasgow)|Herald]]'' newspaper,{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} a post in which he was succeeded by [[Alex Salmond]].