Gore-Booth targets Cook

London, Jan 9: Outgoing British High Commissioner to India David Gore-Booth has accused foreign secretary Robin Cook of seeking to build personal image8217; instead of policy, destroying morale8217; at the foreign office and losing trust of senior diplomats.

The morale at the foreign office was sinking with the result that civil servants might soon feel obliged to defend themselves in public, if Cook does not reassert the right of ministerial responsibility8217;, Gore-Booth said in a valedictory telegram before stepping down from office.

8220;The devastating assault8221;, as the media put it, amounted to a sweeping censure of the new Foreign Secretary8217;s 20-month tenure.