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Jo Cox
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| Jo Cox | |
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Cox in 2015
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| Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen |
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| In office 8 May 2015 – 16 June 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Mike Wood |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Majority | 6,057 (12.00%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Helen Joanne Leadbeater 22 June 1974 Batley, West Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 16 June 2016 (aged 41) Birstall, West Yorkshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Brendan Cox |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Heckmondwike Grammar School |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge |
| Website | jocox |
Born in Batley, West Yorkshire, Cox graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1995, before working as a political assistant, then joining the international humanitarian charity Oxfam, where she rose to become its head of policy. She was selected to contest the Batley and Spen constituency after the previous incumbent, Labour's Mike Wood, decided not to stand again in 2015. Having retained the seat for Labour she became a campaigner on issues relating to the Syrian Civil War and also founded the Friends of Syria, an all-party parliamentary group of which she became chair. She was described as "a tireless campaigner" for Syrian refugees.[4]
On 16 June 2016, Cox was shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, where she had been holding a surgery with her constituents. She was left in critical condition and died from her injuries approximately an hour later. A 52-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack.[5]
Contents
Early life and education
Cox was born on 22 June 1974 in Batley, West Yorkshire, England, and raised in Heckmondwike. Her mother was a school secretary while her father worked in a toothpaste and hairspray factory.[6] She was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School, a state grammar school, before going on to read Social and Political Studies at Pembroke College, Cambridge; she graduated in 1995.[7][8][9][10][11] She was the first in her family to attend university.[7] Cox also studied at the London School of Economics.[7]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, who was then a Member of the European Parliament.[7] Cox worked for the aid groups Oxfam and Oxfam International between 2001 and 2009, serving first in Brussels as the leader of the group's trade-reform campaign, becoming head of policy and advocacy of Oxfam GB in 2005, and then becoming head of Oxfam International's humanitarian campaigns in New York in 2007.[12][4]Cox's charity work later led to a role advising Sarah Brown (the wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown), who was spearheading a campaign to prevent deaths in pregnancy and childbirth.[6][13] Cox was national chair of the Labour Women's Network and a senior adviser to the Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery charity.[9][10]
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.[14] She was selected as a candidate for a seat via an all-women shortlist.[7] The Batley and Spen constituency is generally a safe seat for Labour,[15] and Cox won the seat with 43.2% of the vote.[3]Cox made her maiden speech in the House of Commons on 3 June 2015, using it to celebrate her constiuency's ethnic diversity, while highlighting the economic challenges facing the community and urging the government to rethink its approach to economic regeneration.[16] She was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015, but said at the time that she had done so in order to get him on the list and encourage a broad debate.[17] In the election she voted for Liz Kendall,[18] and announced on 6 May 2016 after the local elections that she and fellow MP Neil Coyle regretted nominating Corbyn.[19]
The Syrian conflict was one of Cox's main campaigning issues.[11] In October 2015 she co-authored, with Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, an article in The Observer arguing that British military forces could help achieve an ethical solution to the conflict in Syria.[20] During that month Cox launched the All Party Parliamentary Friends of Syria group, becoming its chair.[21][22] In the subsequent vote to approve UK military intervention against ISIL in Syria, Cox abstained (one of five Labour MPs to do so),[7] as she did not consider the intervention to be part of an effective comprehensive strategy to tackle the Syrian conflict including dealing with President Bashar al-Assad.[11][23]
Cox supported the "Remain" campaign during the 2016 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.[24] Following her death, campaigning about the EU referendum was suspended for the day on both sides as a mark of respect.[12] The BBC also announced that the day's editions of Question Time and This Week, two political discussion programmes that were due to focus on issues relating to the referendum, would be cancelled.[25]
Death
Main article: Murder of Jo Cox
The library in Birstall where Cox had been holding a constituency surgery before the attack
According to eyewitnesses, she was shot three times—once near the head—and stabbed multiple times. A 77-year-old was also stabbed while trying to prevent her death. Police are investigating reports that the assailant shouted "Britain first" as he carried out the attack.[12][26][27] 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".[28][29]
Four hours after the incident, West Yorkshire Police announced that Cox had died at Leeds General Infirmary.[26][30] This was the first violent death of an MP for more than a quarter of a century,[31] since Ian Gow was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1990,[32][33] and the first serious assault on an MP since Stephen Timms was stabbed by Roshonara Choudhry in an attempted assassination in 2010.[34][35]
A 52-year-old former psychiatric patient was arrested in connection with Cox's death.[12][36]
Cox's husband, Brendan, issued a statement following her death, urging people to "fight against the hatred that killed her".[37] 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",[38] while UK Prime Minister David Cameron said she was "a star for her constituents, a star in parliament, and right across the house".[39]
Personal life
Cox was married to Brendan Cox, who served as an adviser on international development to Gordon Brown during the latter's premiership.[40][41] They had two children[9] who were aged three and five when she died.[42]Cox's family divided their time between their constituency home and a houseboat (a converted barge) on the Thames, moored near Tower Bridge, London.[7][11]
References
- "MP Jo Cox killed in appalling street attack". SKY News. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mike Wood |
Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen 2015–2016 |
Vacant |
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Categories:
- 1974 births
- 2016 deaths
- Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Alumni of the London School of Economics
- Deaths by firearm in England
- Deaths by stabbing in England
- English victims of crime
- Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Labour Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Murdered politicians
- Oxfam people
- People educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School
- People from Batley
- UK MPs 2015–20
Britain First obviously is NOT involved and would never encourage behaviour of this sort.
Jo Cox is obviously an MP campaigning to keep Britain in the EU so if it was shouted by the attacker it could have been a slogan rather than a reference to our party - we just don't know.
As our colleague Matt Ford notes, Cox is the first MP to be assassinated in office since Ian Gow, a Conservative lawmaker who was killed in a car bombing by the Irish Republican Army in 1990.
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