Robin Cook, who died on Saturday, aged 59.
Photograph: Martin ArglesTwo figures who had had their fallings out with Robin Cook today pay handsome tribute to him in the Times - firstly the chancellor, Gordon Brown - who calls him "the finest parliamentarian of our times" - and secondly Downing Street's former communications director, Alastair Campbell.
Mr Brown pokes fun at the media columnists who speculated about their supposed 30-year-old falling out, telling readers that only a few weeks ago Robin and his wife Gaynor were sitting in the garden of his home in Fife, discussing a new book by Mr Cook on political disengagement, and that "we were able to smile together at the years of press reports that we never talked to each other".
Secondly, and perhaps more voyeuristically, Alastair Campbell writes to refute the "myth" that he ordered the then foreign secretary to choose between his wife and his mistress as Mr Cook and Margaret Cook were at Heathrow airport leaving for a family holiday.
In fact, writes the then director of communications for the prime minister, with the News of the World about to expose Mr Cook's affair with his secretary, both men agreed on the need for "clarity".
"The reality is that Robin made the choice because his marriage was over, he loved Gaynor and felt the future happiness of all three depended on admitting the reality. I was impressed at how he handled it," writes Mr Campbell.
Mr Brown makes no mention of whether their recent rapprochement would have meant a place for Mr Cook in a future Brown government, while Mr Campbell says guardedly "it is a tragedy for his family, and for politics, that we will never know".
Guardian readers have already started paying tribute and sharing their memories of Mr Cook on the paper's letters page, and online on our newsblog - please add yours.
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