Page "Margaret Beckett" Paragraph 28

As Foreign Secretary, Beckett came in for some trenchant criticism.

According to The Times, she did not stand up well in comparison with the previous Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw.

The Spectator described her as, " at heart, an old, isolationist, pacifist Leftist " and called on her to resign, and the New Statesman accused her of allowing the Foreign Office to become subservient to 10 Downing Street after the tenures of Jack Straw and Robin Cook.