Since coming to office on the back on Labour's landslide in 1997 Robin Cook keeps finding himself in the news for all the wrong reasons.

The publication of a book by ex-wife Margaret is the latest episode in a series of mishaps that have dogged the ministerial career of a man considered one of Labour's most sure-footed performers while the party was in opposition.

Robin Cook, an only child, was born into a family with a working-class father and an upper-class mother near Glasgow in 1946. Like his compatriot, near contemporary and future rival, Chancellor Gordon Brown, the future foreign secretary first shone in student politics where he championed many left-wing causes since ditched by New Labour.

It was while studying English at Edinburgh University that Cook met Margaret, now a medical consultant.

After a brief spell teaching Cook entered the Commons in 1974.

Backbench rebel

Labour's troubled period in office during the late 1970s saw Prime Minister Jim Callaghan clinging on to power by his fingertips. But Cook played the role of the rebellious backbencher, horrifying Labour loyalists by campaigning against plans for Scottish devolution.

Robin Cook helped Neil Kinnock secure the Labour leadership

After the Tories triumphed at the polls, Labour's lurched to the left in opposition. This change of tack suited Cook as the party backed two causes dear to his heart - withdrawal from Europe and unilateral nuclear disarmament.

But Labour's new programme and the untelegenic new leader, Michael Foot, spelt disaster at the polls. In the 1983 election Labour was humiliated, and only narrowly avoided being pushed into third place by the SDP Liberal Alliance.

Michael Foot's resignation saw Cook begin to emerge as a key player in the party. He successfully managed Neil Kinnock's leadership campaign, running on a soft-left ticket. After Kinnock's second successive general election defeat Cook managed another successful leadership campaign, this time for John Smith.

It was under Smith that Cook was given the chance to develop his interest in economics, becoming trade and industry shadow in 1992. But when Tony Blair was made leader, after John Smith's death from a heart attack, he not only failed to stand as leader, he missed the other prize he coveted as Gordon Brown retained the post of shadow chancellor which he picked up in 1992.

Supplying jets to Indonesia got Robin Cook into trouble

In the dying years of the Major government Cook's already formidable skills in debate were crowned as his savaging of Conservative ministers over the arms-to-Iraq affair further undermined an already crumbling government.

He played a low-key role in Labour's careful 1997 election campaign but with Labour in power the high-flying Cook was expected to follow the example of his Cabinet colleagues and the fast moving chancellor who "hit the ground running".

Ethical foreign policy

He soon launched a policy initiative that has dogged him ever since. While the government was still only days old he told journalists gathered in the Foreign Office that the UK would pursue an "ethical dimension" to its foreign policy.

Arms to Sierra Leone raised questions about the Foreign Office

The bold announcement captured the public mood. But the policy quickly came under attack as Labour chose to proceed with the export of 16 Hawk training jets to the brutal Indonesian dictator President Suharto, a sale already agreed by the Tories.

The ensuing row tended to overshadow the new foreign secretary's achievements as did the long running arms-to-Africa affair in which Foreign Office officials stood accused of backing British mercenaries who joined in a UN sanctions busting coup in the African country of Sierra Leone.

Domestic affairs

Equally unlucky for Cook is that the media has concentrated on his domestic affairs, not his foreign policy.

Cook's first marriage ended in 1997 when the News of the World splashed news of his long-standing affair with his secretary Gaynor Regan, now his second wife.

According to one version of events, disputed by Cook, he was told by Labour's media machine that the tabloids had got hold of the story while he and his wife were heading to Heathrow Airport to begin a riding holiday in Montana.

With Labour apparently eager to present a clear message to the press on Cook's personal life, the foreign secretary was given little time to chose between his secretary and his wife. He quickly chose Gaynor and told the press the following day that his marriage to Margaret was over.

Margaret was said to be devastated, and despite issuing a statement saying that her former husbands professional life is "the only matter of concern to the general public", she has wasted little time finding a book deal enabling her to detail the foreign secretary's human frailties in print.