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The Point of Departure [Paperback]

Robin Cook (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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The Point of Departure + An Honourable Deception?: New Labour, Iraq, and the Misuse of Power + Blair's Wars
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Product details

  • Paperback: 380 pages
  • Publisher: Simon and Schuster (24 Sep 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1416578315
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416578314
  • Product Dimensions: 23 x 15.4 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,240,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Robin F. Cook
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Product Description

Review

This book is great fun to read. It has the authentic touch of both the great and the trivial issues that dominate the daily life and the grind of ministers in any government" Guardian 'Robin Cook's Point of Departure provides the best insight yet into the workings of the Blair cabinet. His diary entries are highly readable, and sometimes very funny' Elinor Goodman, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph 30/11 'Cook does not accuse Blair of deliberate deception. Cook's restraint makes an even more damning case. He guides the reader towards a devastating guilty verdict on the Prime Minister without making too many sweeping judgments himself. While narrating a tragic and humiliating failure in foreign policy, Cook also manages to be very funny' Independent on Sunday, Political Books of the Year 14/12 'Instant history can tell us how events appeared before they became obscured in the fog of hindsight. For hindsight is the great enemy of the historian. We forget, all too easily, that what is now in the past once lay in the future. Instant history, especially when, as with Robin Cook's Point of Departure, it is based on the diary of a participant, is history written when the outcome was still unknown' FT, UK Politics 'The best-written and most thoroughly researched of the post-election batch of cabinet biographies,' Peter Kellner, Evening Standard. 'This thoroughly researched and well-crafted biography has both revelations and insights to offer about the life of one of the most intriguing members of this government,' Andrew Rawnsley, Observer 'An admirable instant biography, taking in all its subject's trials and tribulations since he came to office,' Anthony Howard's political books of the year, 1998, Sunday Times "Devastating on how Blair found himself taking Britain to war in the shadow of President Bush, after 'grossly distorting', in Cook's phrase, the threat of Saddam's weapon's to the world" Sunday Times 29/8 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Description

On 17 March 2003, Robin Cook, Leader of the House of Commons and former Foreign Secretary, resigned from the Cabinet in protest against the coming war in Iraq. His resignation speech against that war prompted the first standing ovation in the history of the House and marked the end of the ministerial career of one of Labour's most brilliant politicians. His arguments against that war are of profound interest and importance to American readers. <P> For the two years prior to his resignation, Robin Cook kept a diary, a personal record of Labour's second term, that forms the core of this narrative. <I>The Point of Departure</I> is Robin Cook's unvarnished account of this dramatic period in British political history. Though surprised by his abrupt dismissal in 2001 as Foreign Secretary, he became determined to effect the changes in Parliamentary democracy that he believed were essential if Parliament was to move into the twenty-first century. As Tony Blair told Cook on offering him leadership of the House of Commons, "This is the job for you." <P> Drawing on firsthand experiences in the Commons and the Cabinet, of encounters in conferences and corridors and late-night conversations, Cook details his gathering disillusionment with Tony Blair's change of direction, which he believes to be profoundly mistaken, and, above all, the change in foreign policy that led the United Kingdom away from its destiny in Europe and into participation in President Bush's war in Iraq. <P> This is the inside story of a government in power -- and of the tensions between those who govern. But above all it is the story of a politician who genuinely wanted to bring democracy closer to the people, but who saw a government increasingly detached from the values of himself and his party, and who developed a growing conviction that the government position on Iraq was morally, diplomatically, and politically wrong.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Jimbo
Format:Paperback
The basic narrative of Point of Departure is Robin Cook's perspective on the build up to the War on Iraq after September 11th. He faithfully recorded for his diary the key events leading up to this and his role in it, though one wonders at the end of the book whether he was lied to, or is idealistic about what his efforts could achieve (or is that naïve?). Working from a position as Leader of the House of Commons he was mainly on the periphery of events, though he battles endlessly to secure voting rights for Parliament in the run-up to the war.

The second main narrative strand focuses upon his attempts to reform Parliament and strengthen it as an institution. He clearly loves Parliament, and works hard to ensure that the House of Commons is a stronger chamber.

All through this book there is a real sense of frustration - mainly directed at Tony Blair. He is frustrated that the Labour Party feels unable to resist moves towards war I Iraq, and through the book adopts a consistent and entirely logical argument as to why this should be the case. He is also deeply frustrated that the Government cannot see the merits of Parliamentary reform, on which he was thwarted a number of times, often by other figures in the Government.

This is an exceptionally interesting book on a number of levels. For those interested in politics it reveals the process through which policy passes - I was surprised at how much dissent there was within the government towards different aspects of the Government's proposals. At the same time it was interesting how united ideologically the Labour party is, with the exception of Number 10. Robin Cook appears to be friendly with a number of Ministers who are usually regarded as being Blairite - most specifically Alan Milburn and Steven Byers.

There also a lot here for the casual reader - the book is shot through with moments of humour, and it is interesting to read about the peculiarities of ministerial life. This book is definitely worth investigation.

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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Westminster Skater 21 Mar 2006
By Ian Millard TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Robin Cook was one of those British Parliamentarians more truly interested more in Parliament than policy as such (Enoch Powell was another). Such people skate efortlessly over the arcane rituals and rules of Westminster, seem to be politicians of principle too, usually, yet ultimately achieve little and leave less behind them.

Cook, like many another superficially cerebral Scottish politico (cf David Steel) came to Parliament from a background in University achievement and solid political base-building. Eventually he became Foreign Secretary, but made the mistake of criticizing Israel, after which his relationship with his secretary (later, wife) Gaynor, suddenly came to public view, leaving an angry first wife floundering noisily in the wake of the affaire.

The book is a reasonably good read and does have some startling and disturbing insights, or, rather, anecdotes, into the Blair type of administration. Particularly dark is the way people such as a journalistic careerist, Alastair Campbell, exercized direct power over ministers, sometimes mouthdroppingly so, as when Campbell takes Cook's briefcase and tells him, damn nears ORDERS him, to go do something! There was a time when it was something to be a British Cabinet Minister...

Cook, like Alan Clark before him, seems to covet his M.P. and ministerial rank and is willing to rather kowtow to the Prime Minister to retain both. A weak Foreign Secretary, he found a better role as Leader of the House. Worth reading.

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8 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Robin Cook 1 Mar 2004
Format:Hardcover
A fascinating account of the Cabinet machinations in the run up to the Iraq war. Will provide valuable documentary evidence to Historians on one man's determination to take Britain to war.
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