Former British foreign secretary Robin Cook, who quit Prime Minister Tony Blair's government in protest over the Iraq war, died on Saturday after collapsing on a Scottish mountain. His death was announced by police force after Cook, 59, was airlifted by helicopter from Ben Stack in the Highlands following his collapse on the rugged mountain whilst out walking.
"I can confirm he is dead," a spokesman for Raigmore Hospital in Inverness told AFP, adding that Cook was declared dead about five minutes after he arrived in the emergency ward.
Cook's second wife Gaynor was with him on the mountain when he collapsed, the police said.
Police said Cook, a keen walker, was nearing the top of Ben Stack, a conical mountain that stands 721 metres high, when he became ill around 2:23pm.
An air-sea rescue helicopter from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency was called in to take him to hospital in Inverness, where a spokesman said he was declared dead at 4:05pm.
Foreign secretary under Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2001, Cook resigned in protest from Blair's government as leader of the House of Commons on the eve of US and British invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, standing in for Blair who left for summer holidays earlier in the day, was to make a statement Saturday evening, BBC News 24 television said.
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