Don’t Forget Your Mouthpiece

Only a year ago, we and the United States were part of a coalition against terrorism that was wider and more diverse than I would ever have imagined possible. History will be astonished at the diplomatic miscalculations that led so quickly to the disintegration of that powerful coalition. The US can afford to go it alone, but Britain is not a superpower. Our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules…

… I welcome the strong personal commitment that the prime minister has given to middle east peace, but Britain’s positive role in the middle east does not redress the strong sense of injustice throughout the Muslim world at what it sees as one rule for the allies of the US and another rule for the rest.

This is part of Robin Cook’s resignation speech in the Commons in March 2003. Given recent events in London and the uncertainty of what lies ahead, I hope that these words are remembered.

Britain has lost a man of principle and a great mind. I wish there were a few more like him in power.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 7th, 2005 at 1:00 am and is filed under General Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.