The Scots MP, who resigned as leader of the House of Commons over the Iraq conflict, is relying on his past power to try to prevent new neighbours moving in. Mr Cook is upset about an application for a "house in multiple occupation" licence for a flat above him in the tenement in which he lives in the affluent Merchiston area of Edinburgh.Well, well. All of us want to have considerate neighbours but the best way to achieve that is to have properly enforced property rights - something that Cook's Labour party has always opposed. I note that Cook thinks that senior politicians deserve special attention because he is "prominent in public life" and wants his home to be a "place of privacy". I think that the victims of our new "right to roam" law won't be too sympathetic to Cook's cry for privacy.His home was the subject of strong Home Office security measures when he was foreign secretary.
"Although I am no longer in government I remain very prominent in public life and it is important for me that my home base is a place of privacy where I am secure from any form of confrontation," the politician told the city council in a protest letter from Westminster.
And what about this:
The MP said he also had worries concerning the stair's "demographic character".If a Tory said that all hell would break loose.