Anthony Howard - Robin Cook was not leadership material (29/41)

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The prominent British political observer, Anthony Howard (1934-2010) reported on global political issues for over 40 years for 'The Guardian', 'The Sunday Times' and 'The Observer', and was editor of the 'New Statesman' and 'The Listener'. He received a CBE in 1997. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: 2008]
TRANSCRIPT: Robin Cook was a really extremely formidable parliamentarian, a very good speaker. Very incisive and, when in opposition, some of those speeches he made were really terrific. He wasn’t an easy man. When I was editor of the 'New Statesman', I had to have somebody… or you had to have... a sort of MP who’d come into your Friday conferences and keep you informed on what was going on. And the first MP I asked, oddly enough, we’re now talking 1972, and he’d just become a member of parliament, was Neil Kinnock. And Neil was a director of 'Tribune'. He said he was a director of 'Tribune', and I said, 'Well, that is an impediment and I don’t think I could really have that'. And so I don’t know… so I then had Eric Heffer in, before Robin Cook. And Eric became a member of the government in '74, and Robin Cook was elected in '74, and he became the 'New Statesman', as it were, tame labour MP. And he came, really quite religiously, to every Friday conference we had. We always had a, sort of, policy, kind of planning-ahead conference on Friday, not so much for detail in the paper, but kind of the issues that we should be bearing in mind, should be addressing.
And he came to that. He was always very late. He was always a bit chaotic, I thought. He’d sort of arrive half an hour late, that kind of thing. And he was distinctly, in manner, pedagogic, and I didn’t find him immediately attractive at all. But he did the job and he wrote articles for us. He was always, I always thought, a bit sort of cavalier that… I remember once, he wrote a piece and I got a letter in, sort of, number of corrections and stuff. And I showed it to him, probably at the Friday conference, and said, 'What am I to do about this, Robin?' And he said, 'Oh, junk it... bin it. It’s ridiculous. Trivial point'. So I said, 'Well, I can’t do that. I mean, is he right or is he wrong?' He said, 'Oh, well, it doesn’t matter'. And I was a bit taken aback by that, that, you know, if somebody catches you out, you have to actually say, well, he’s right, you'd better put it in the paper and I’ll put at the bottom, sorry, got it wrong, or something. But he… I did put it in the paper, but he wasn’t at all pleased, and thought it should just be ignored. So he was a difficult man.
I had met him first when he was a lecturer at Edinburgh University, and I’d gone up to talk to the Labour Club there or something. That’s when I first met him. He was then a prospective candidate. And he seemed to me, even in those days, rather like a garden gnome, but he was a good speaker. And of course, I think his tragedy was that if he had, sort of, had the bearing and looks and the appearance of, say, Tony Blair, he would have become leader of the party. The only reason why he was always, sort of, not considered seriously, was because he had this sort of red beard and he was rather small and he had a slightly, sort of, bad voice, too, for politics. Slightly high-pitched and… but as I say, he was a very effective orator. But I think he was always a bit miffed, because after all, he’d gone to the House of Commons nine years before Tony Blair. Tony Blair wasn’t elected until 1983. Robin Cook was elected 1974. So he shouldn’t even have been considered leadership material. It must have been a bit hurtful.
I don’t know what his relations were like with Tony Blair. Of course, his very brave resignation over Iraq obviously poisoned them, but he was right about that, and Blair was wrong. I don’t think they were ever close. Blair admired his skill as a speaker, and certainly sent him a hero-gram in that arms… was it? was the Arms for Iraq scandal, you know, the great report where he made his great speech for the opposition frontbench. And he used… I think he used to have it on his wall in his office, this, sort of hero-gram that Blair sent him for that performance, which was remarkable. But I don’t think they were ever close. [...]
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[@stevebbuk]

I had to pass a wry smile on Anthony Howard commenting on another personage's unprepossessing looks.

[@insertclevername4123]

Hey, you write what you know; I'm sure Howard was well aware of how his appearance affected his own career at times.

[@richardmartin5251]

Robin cook was my local mp and in 1996 i was in primary school (mid calder) and i can remember being kinda in awe that at that time shadow home secretary was there. I grew up in care and i can remember the iraq war and his stance in parliament and he was echoing what i believed. I had a friend who died in iraq whom grew up with me. Obviously the home was a recruiting ground for the army. Not a day goes by that I don't think about that and i tell my kids now to not be disillusioned by politics because if his voice had been heard or he'd visited my my friends james school that day, my friend may have been here and not me or my two children. Sliding doors huh we all have them.

[@yampk1]

Given the disasterous record of the proceeding Labour foreign secretaries, Cook probably wasn't all that bad

[@kevink200]

Cook was taken out. Like John Smith before him.

[@muhammadhasnainkhalil7437]

Why are leaders chosen based on such superficial factors? Like voice and looks.

[@colinsbane]

Wish he would stop wiping his nose with his hand.
Precious little about Cook's phenomenal intellect. Howard more concerned about appearances: what a prick!

[@rideitpodcast]

Some suspect he was murdered by security services for opposing the Irag war.

[@LS-jv9hp]

I don't believe he was killed by security services if corbyn is still standing.

[@kevinlongman007]

More conspiracy theories.

[@Recessio]

Only complete nutjobs think that

[@RobertBurke-tq9zu]

Only loonies think that lol, the same people who think John Smith was killed.

[@johnstockill9353]

didnt stop corbyn

[@deniseelsworth7816]

Think it did hurt kinnock though.

[@lindsaysmith7825]

Far too honest