Cookson has no cycling culture !!
The UCI had already cancelled several attempts against the Hour record long before Moser.
We have the case of Marcel Berthet. It wasn't exactly cancelled because Berthet made his performances knowing full well the UCI wouldn't accept it but still...
In 1933, Marcel Berthet set hour performances of 48.600km and then 49.992km despite the age of 47. It means that he was faster than Merckx, Boardman 2000 and Sosenka.
Berthet rode on a streamlined bike, not sanctioned by the UCI of course and as I said he knew it before setting them. So it was just for fun.

In 1934, Francis Faure broke Oscar Egg's Hour record by more than 800m: 45.055km vs 44.247km. This time it was first considered a new record before the UCI decided to cancel it (I think Egg lodged a complaint but that needs verif.

)
My point is that first those two men set the first "best hour performances" as they are known today, though that label appeared long after their death.
..and second, more importantly, if the UCI had already acted against some new technology added to a bike in a long time past, why shouldn't they act again? They had set precedents in the thirties, so why should they suddenly become more liberal?
After all lenticular wheels and funny bike frames were not sanctioned by the UCI in 1984, so normally, Moser's records are illegal. The problem is that the UCI acted 16 years later while they should've cancelled it straightway. But it remains that it was illegal and they should've done what they have done for Francis Faure.