LONDON British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook on Monday faced a barrage of criticism over the arms-to-Sierra Leone scandal, blamed for the biggest crisis in Prime Minister Tony Blair's 12-month Labour administration. Cook's political reputation was on the line, accused at best of gross incompetence over his apparent ignorance about the British government's role in a sanctions-busting counter-coup in Sierra Leone, or at worst of lying to parliament that he knew nothing about it.

The foreign secretary, one of the three big-hitters in the Labour administration, is not seen as likely to lose his job now, but the scandal could badly undermine Cook's long-term position. On Tuesday, he will face a gruelling 60 minutes of questioning in parliament, with the opposition Tories determined to put him under the spotlight over the affair. Robin Cook is widely regarded as one the ablest members of the Labour government.

He is also one of its biggest disappointments, wrote the highly-respected Financial Times business daily. The controversy confronts Labour, which launched a much-heralded ethical foreign policy after sweeping to power last May, with a scandal that could rival the arms-to-Iraq affair, which was brilliantly exploited by Cook in opposition to help topple the Tories. Ironically, the government's alleged support for a firm of mercenaries that helped to restore elected President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, ousted in a military coup in May 1997, was for a good cause.

(AFP)