A man in a position of great power standing up for what he believes in and willing to give it all up becaues of it. Cook’s resignation speech in the House of Commons, received with an unprecedented standing ovation by fellow MPs, was described by the BBC’s Andrew Marr as “without doubt one of the most effective, brilliant, resignation speeches in modern British politics.” Most unusually for the British parliament, Cook’s speech was met with growing applause from all sides of the House (beginning with Labour and Liberal Democrat critics of the war), and from the public gallery. According to the Economist’s obituary, that was the only speech ever to receive a standing ovation in the history of the House.
