Cook says his wife behaved nobly over affair revelations

Foreign Secretary Robin Cook last night said he had "behaved badly" towards his wife - whom he is leaving after revelations of an affair - and that she had behaved "nobly".

In a statement he apologised for the "public hounding" their marriage split had brought her, and asked that she now be left in privacy. His statement was issued in response to one his wife, Margaret, put out on Monday, in which she said: "Whatever my husband's private life may have been, he has always been a very good Member of Parliament and is a very good Foreign Secretary.