Jo Cox

Jo Cox
Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen
In office 8 May 2015 – 16 June 2016
Preceded by	Mike Wood
Succeeded by	Tracy Brabin
Personal details
Born	Helen Joanne Leadbeater (1974-06-22)22 June 1974 Batley, England, United Kingdom
Died	16 June 2016(2016-06-16) (aged 41) Birstall, England, United Kingdom[1]
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Brendan Cox
Children	2
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Cambridge London School of Economics
Website	jocox.org.uk

Helen Joanne "Jo" Cox^[2] (née Leadbeater; 22 June 1974 – 16 June 2016) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Batley and Spen constituency from her election in May 2015 until her murder 13 months later in June 2016, having won the seat with an increased majority for Labour in the 2015 general election.^[3]

Cox was born in Batley, West Yorkshire, and studied Social and Political Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Working first as a political assistant, she then joined the international humanitarian charity Oxfam, where she rose to become head of policy and advocacy at Oxfam GB. She was selected to contest the Batley and Spen parliamentary seat after the previous incumbent decided not to stand in 2015. She held the seat for Labour with an increased majority. In her maiden speech she talked about the diversity of her constituency saying she had noticed that "we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us".^[4] She became a campaigner on issues relating to the Syrian Civil War, and founded and chaired the all-party parliamentary group Friends of Syria; an obituary appearing in The Independent on the day of her death described her as having "campaigned tirelessly for refugees".^[5]

On 16 June 2016, Cox died shortly after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, where she had been due to hold a constituency surgery. A local man, Thomas Mair, was found guilty of her murder five months later and sentenced to life imprisonment for a crime which the trial judge described as an "act of terror". It was revealed at Mair's trial that he was associated with far-right organisations.^[6]

Early life and education

Cox was born Helen Joanne Leadbeater on 22 June 1974 in Batley, West Yorkshire, England, and raised in Heckmondwike.^[7] Her mother was a school secretary while her father worked in a toothpaste and hairspray factory.^[8] She was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School, a state grammar school, where she was head girl. During summers, she worked packing toothpaste.^[8]

Cox studied Social and Political Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1995. She was the first member of her family to attend university. She later studied at the London School of Economics.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} She later recalled that her experience at Cambridge, where what mattered was "where you were born ... how you spoke ... who you knew", "knocked me for about five years".^[9]

Career

Early career

Following her graduation, Cox worked as an adviser to Labour MP Joan Walley, before moving to Brussels to spend two years advising Glenys Kinnock, wife of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who was then a Member of the European Parliament.^[9] Cox worked for the aid groups Oxfam and Oxfam International between 2001 and 2009, first in Brussels as the leader of the group's trade reform campaign, as head of policy and advocacy at Oxfam GB in 2005, and head of Oxfam International's humanitarian campaigns in New York City in 2007.^[14] While there she was instrumental in helping to publish For a Safer Tomorrow, a book authored by Ed Cairns that examines the changing nature of the world's humanitarian policies.^[15] Her work for Oxfam in which she met disadvantaged groups in Darfur and Afghanistan influenced her political thinking.^[9]

Cox's charity work led to a role advising Sarah Brown (the wife of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown), who was spearheading a campaign to prevent deaths in pregnancy and childbirth.^[8][16] Cox was the national chair of the Labour Women's Network and a senior adviser to the Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery charity.^[11][12]

Political career

Cox was nominated by the Labour Party to contest the Batley and Spen seat being vacated by Mike Wood in the 2015 general election.^[17] She was selected as its candidate from an all-women shortlist.^[9] The Batley and Spen seat was a Conservative marginal between 1983 and 1997, but is now considered to be a safe seat for Labour,^[18] and Cox won the seat with 43.2% of the vote, increasing Labour's majority to 6,051.^[3][9]

Cox's constituency, Batley and Spen, is located in West Yorkshire (pictured)

Cox made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 3 June 2015, using it to celebrate her constituency's ethnic diversity, while highlighting the economic challenges facing the community and urging the government to rethink its approach to economic regeneration.^[19] She was one of 36 Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015, but said she had done so to get him on the list and encourage a broad debate.^[20] In the election she voted for Liz Kendall,^[21] and announced after the local elections on 6 May 2016 that she and fellow MP Neil Coyle regretted nominating Corbyn.^[22]

Cox campaigned for a solution to the Syrian Civil War.^[13] In October 2015 she co-authored an article in The Observer with Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, arguing that British military forces could help achieve an ethical solution to the conflict, including the creation of civilian safe havens inside Syria.^[23] During that month Cox launched the All Party Parliamentary Friends of Syria group, becoming its chair.^[24][25] In the Commons vote in December to approve UK military intervention against ISIL in Syria, Cox abstained because she believed in a more comprehensive strategy that would also include combatting President Bashar al-Assad and his "indiscriminate barrel bombs".^[13] She wrote:

By refusing to tackle Assad's brutality, we may actively alienate more of the Sunni population, driving them towards Isis. So I have decided to abstain. Because I am not against airstrikes per se, but I cannot actively support them unless they are part of a plan. Because I believe in action to address Isis, but do not believe it will work in isolation.^[26]

Andrew Grice of The Independent felt that she "argued forcefully that the UK Government should be doing more both to help the victims and use its influence abroad to bring an end to the Syrian conflict".^[5] In February 2016, Cox wrote to the Nobel Committee praising the work of the Syrian Civil Defense, a civilian voluntary emergency rescue organisation known as the White Helmets, and nominating them for the Nobel Peace Prize: "In the most dangerous place on earth these unarmed volunteers risk their lives to help anyone in need regardless of religion or politics". The nomination was accepted by the committee, and garnered the support of twenty of her fellow MPs and several high-profile personalities, including George Clooney, Daniel Craig, Chris Martin and Michael Palin. The nomination was supported by members of Canada's New Democratic Party, who urged Stéphane Dion, the country's Foreign Affairs Minister, to give his backing on behalf of Canada.^[27][28]

Cox, a supporter of the Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East,^[29] called for the lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip.^[30] She opposed efforts by the government to curtail the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and said "I believe that this is a gross attack on democratic freedoms. Not only is it right to boycott unethical companies but it is our right to do so."^[31] Cox was working with Conservative MP Thomas Tugendhat on a report to be published following the release of the Chilcot Report into the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After her death, Tugendhat wrote in The Times, "Our starting point was that while Britain must learn the painful lessons of Iraq, we must not let the pendulum swing towards knee-jerk isolationism, ideological pacifism and doctrinal anti-interventionism".^[32] With the charity Tell MAMA she worked on The Geography of Anti-Muslim Hatred, investigating cases of Islamophobia; the report was dedicated to her at its launch on 29 June.^[33] Two parliamentary questions concerning the Yemeni Conflict, tabled by Cox to the Foreign Office on 14 June, were answered by Tobias Ellwood after her death. On 1 July The Guardian reported that each answer was accompanied by a government note stating "This question was tabled before the sad death of the honourable lady but the subject remains important and the government's response ought to be placed on the public record."^[34]

Cox was a "Remain" supporter in the campaign leading to the 2016 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.^[35] Following her death, the EU referendum campaign was suspended for the day by both sides as a mark of respect.^[14] The BBC cancelled editions of Question Time and This Week, two political discussion programmes scheduled to air that evening focussing on issues relating to the referendum.^[36][37]

Personal life

Cox was married to Brendan Cox, who was an adviser on international development to Gordon Brown during his premiership.^[38][39] They met while she was working for Oxfam.^[15] They had two young children,^[11] who were aged three and five when Cox died.^[40] A secular humanist, Cox was a supporter of the British Humanist Association.^[41]

Cox's family divided their time between their constituency home and a houseboat, a converted Dutch barge, on the Thames, moored near Tower Bridge in London.^[9][13]

Death

The library in Birstall where Cox had been due to hold a constituency surgery at the time of the attack

On 16 June 2016, Cox was fatally shot and stabbed outside the library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, where she was about to hold a constituency surgery at 1:00 pm.^[14][42]

According to eyewitnesses, she was shot three times — once near the head — and stabbed multiple times. A 77-year-old local man, Bernard Kenny, was stabbed in the stomach while trying to fend off her attacker. Initial reports indicated that the gunman shouted "Britain first" as he carried out the attack.^[14] The far-right Britain First party issued a statement denying any involvement or encouragement in the attack and suggested that the phrase "could have been a slogan rather than a reference to our party".^[43][44] Later at Mair's trial a witness stated that he shouted, "This is for Britain. Britain will always come first".^[45]

Four hours after the incident, West Yorkshire Police announced that Cox had died of her injuries shortly after being admitted to Leeds General Infirmary.^[42][46] She was the first sitting MP to be fatally attacked since the 1990 death of the Conservative party's Ian Gow, victim of a Provisional IRA car bomb,^[47] and it was the first serious assault on an MP since Stephen Timms was stabbed by Roshonara Choudhry in an attempted assassination in 2010.^[48][49] A memorial service was held at St Peter's Church in Birstall the following day.^[50]

A vigil held in remembrance outside Bath Abbey, one of the many held around Britain

Thomas Mair, a 52-year-old Batley and Spen constituent^[51] who had a history of psychiatric problems and links to the U.S.-based National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group,^[52] was arrested in connection with her death shortly after the attack.^[53][54] In a statement issued the day after the attack, West Yorkshire Police said that Cox was the victim of a "targeted attack" and the suspect's links to far-right extremism were a "priority line of inquiry" in the search for a motive.^[55] On 18 June, Mair was charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.^[56] He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court later that day, and at the Old Bailey on 20 June.^[57]

Cox's husband, Brendan, issued a statement following her death, urging people to "fight against the hatred that killed her".^[58] Among those who paid tribute to Cox were Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who described her as someone who was "dedicated to getting us to live up to our promises to support the developing world and strengthen human rights",^[59] while Prime Minister David Cameron said she was "a star for her constituents, a star in parliament, and right across the house".^[60] U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Brendan Cox to offer his condolences, noting that "the world is a better place because of her selfless service to others".^[61] Parliament was recalled on 20 June 2016 for fellow MPs to pay tribute to Cox.^[62]

The day after Cox died, 17 June 2016, Brendan Cox set up a GoFundMe page named "Jo Cox's Fund" in aid of three charities which he described as "closest to her heart": the Royal Voluntary Service, Hope not Hate, and the White Helmets, a Syrian civil defence group. £700,000 had been raised by 19 June 2016,^[63][64] with the amount exceeding £1 million by the following day.^[65] On 20 June, Oxfam announced it would release Stand As One – Live at Glastonbury 2016, an album of live performances from the festival in memory of Cox and that proceeds from the album, released on 11 July, will go towards the charity's work with refugees.^[66][67] The festival opened with a tribute to Cox.^[68] On the evening of 23 June, while ballots were being counted in the EU membership referendum, polling officials in the Yorkshire and Humber region observed a minute's silence.^[69]

West Yorkshire coroner Martin Fleming opened an inquest into Cox's death at Bradford Coroner's Court on 24 June. It was adjourned following a six-minute hearing and her body released to allow her family to make funeral arrangements.^[70] The funeral, "a very small and private family affair",^[71] was held in her constituency on 15 July, with many thousands of people paying their respects as the cortege passed.^[72]

A by-election in Batley and Spen was held on 20 October 2016. Labour candidate Tracy Brabin, an actress whose credits include a role in Coronation Street in the mid 1990s, won the by-election with 85 percent share of the vote. The Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, and UKIP did not contest the election as a mark of respect.^[73]

On 23 November 2016, Mair was found guilty of all charges - the murder of Jo Cox, stabbing Bernard Kenny (a charge of grievous bodily harm with intent), possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon, namely the dagger. The trial judge said that the crime was so severe that 53-year-old Mair should be given a whole-life tariff—never be released from prison, except at the discretion of the Secretary of State.^[74]

International reaction

News of Cox's death sparked international condemnation and tributes poured in. A personal friend, Canadian MP Nathan Cullen paid tribute to Cox in the Canadian House of Commons.^[75] Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, current U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and former U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in an assassination attempt in 2011, were among international politicians who sent messages of condemnation and sympathy in the aftermath of her killing.^[76]

See also

• Anna Lindh – Swedish politician killed before the 2003 referendum on the euro
• Nigel Jones, Baron Jones of Cheltenham – MP who, in 2000, was attacked at his advice surgery by a person he had previously tried to help; his aide Andrew Pennington was killed.

References

External links

• Media related to Jo Cox at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to Jo Cox at Wikiquote