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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/17/morning-briefing-eu-referendum-campaigning-suspended-jo-cox
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| EU referendum morning briefing: campaigning suspended after death of Jo Cox | EU referendum morning briefing: campaigning suspended after death of Jo Cox |
| (2 months later) | |
| The death of Jo Cox casts a dark shadow over UK politics today – and the UK more widely. Tributes have come from across the political spectrum and across national boundaries: US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called it “a violent act of political intolerance”. | The death of Jo Cox casts a dark shadow over UK politics today – and the UK more widely. Tributes have come from across the political spectrum and across national boundaries: US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called it “a violent act of political intolerance”. |
| Friends, colleagues, constituents and those who knew little of Cox before Thursday’s devastating events attended vigils to show respect for an MP cut down as she went about her work. | Friends, colleagues, constituents and those who knew little of Cox before Thursday’s devastating events attended vigils to show respect for an MP cut down as she went about her work. |
| Here is what we now know: | Here is what we now know: |
| I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo. | I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo. |
| Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life. | Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life. |
| The referendum is a great exercise in democracy. But the campaign has been suspended, on both sides, out of respect for Jo and her family – and for that democracy that she served. | The referendum is a great exercise in democracy. But the campaign has been suspended, on both sides, out of respect for Jo and her family – and for that democracy that she served. |
| One of the virtues of our parliamentary democracy is the everyday accessibility of MPs to the people they represent. It’s what makes the way we govern ourselves very different from many others. We believe in freedom, liberty and justice … Today’s horrible events are an assault on all of these values. | One of the virtues of our parliamentary democracy is the everyday accessibility of MPs to the people they represent. It’s what makes the way we govern ourselves very different from many others. We believe in freedom, liberty and justice … Today’s horrible events are an assault on all of these values. |
| Jo’s death reminds us that our democracy is precious but fragile – we must never forget to cherish it. | Jo’s death reminds us that our democracy is precious but fragile – we must never forget to cherish it. |
| Further reading | Further reading |
| Commentary | Commentary |
| Inevitably, we want to know what was behind the killing, what it means and what it says about us, our political system, our language and its consequences. It’s easy in these circumstances to assume and inflame; harder to be thoughtful and careful. | Inevitably, we want to know what was behind the killing, what it means and what it says about us, our political system, our language and its consequences. It’s easy in these circumstances to assume and inflame; harder to be thoughtful and careful. |
| This column by Alex Massie in the Spectator has been widely praised: | This column by Alex Massie in the Spectator has been widely praised: |
| When you shout BREAKING POINT over and over again, you don’t get to be surprised when someone breaks. When you present politics as a matter of life and death, as a question of national survival, don’t be surprised if someone takes you at your word. You didn’t make them do it, no, but you didn’t do much to stop it either. | When you shout BREAKING POINT over and over again, you don’t get to be surprised when someone breaks. When you present politics as a matter of life and death, as a question of national survival, don’t be surprised if someone takes you at your word. You didn’t make them do it, no, but you didn’t do much to stop it either. |
| Sometimes rhetoric has consequences. If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are under threat, that their country has been stolen from them, that they have been betrayed and sold down the river, that their birthright has been pilfered, that their problem is they’re too slow to realise any of this is happening, that their problem is they’re not sufficiently mad as hell, then at some point, in some place, something or someone is going to snap. And then something terrible is going to happen. | Sometimes rhetoric has consequences. If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are under threat, that their country has been stolen from them, that they have been betrayed and sold down the river, that their birthright has been pilfered, that their problem is they’re too slow to realise any of this is happening, that their problem is they’re not sufficiently mad as hell, then at some point, in some place, something or someone is going to snap. And then something terrible is going to happen. |
| Polly Toynbee in the Guardian says we have been encouraged “to despise the political class”: | Polly Toynbee in the Guardian says we have been encouraged “to despise the political class”: |
| Contempt for politics is dangerous and contagious, yet it has become a widespread default sneer. There was Jo Cox, a dedicated MP, going about her business, doing what good MPs do, making herself available to any constituents with any problems to drop in to her surgery. Just why she became the victim of such a vicious attack, we may learn eventually. But in the aftermath of her death, there are truths of which we should remind ourselves right now. | Contempt for politics is dangerous and contagious, yet it has become a widespread default sneer. There was Jo Cox, a dedicated MP, going about her business, doing what good MPs do, making herself available to any constituents with any problems to drop in to her surgery. Just why she became the victim of such a vicious attack, we may learn eventually. But in the aftermath of her death, there are truths of which we should remind ourselves right now. |
| Democracy is precious and precarious. It relies on a degree of respect for the opinions of others, soliciting support for political ideas without stirring up undue savagery and hatred against opponents … | Democracy is precious and precarious. It relies on a degree of respect for the opinions of others, soliciting support for political ideas without stirring up undue savagery and hatred against opponents … |
| Something close to a chilling culture war is breaking out in Britain, a divide deeper than I have ever known, as I listen to the anger aroused by this referendum campaign. The air is corrosive, it has been rendered so. One can register shock at what has happened, but not complete surprise. | Something close to a chilling culture war is breaking out in Britain, a divide deeper than I have ever known, as I listen to the anger aroused by this referendum campaign. The air is corrosive, it has been rendered so. One can register shock at what has happened, but not complete surprise. |
| Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell has written a personal tribute in the Telegraph to “my fearless friend Jo Cox”. Mitchell and Cox together set up the all-party parliamentary group on Syria, he writes: | Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell has written a personal tribute in the Telegraph to “my fearless friend Jo Cox”. Mitchell and Cox together set up the all-party parliamentary group on Syria, he writes: |
| At the time, her party leadership was against military intervention in Syria and mine was in favour, which meant the atmosphere around the issue was quite heated. But she was completely uninterested in any of that. She just wanted to do the right thing … | At the time, her party leadership was against military intervention in Syria and mine was in favour, which meant the atmosphere around the issue was quite heated. But she was completely uninterested in any of that. She just wanted to do the right thing … |
| It’s hard to believe that someone so brave and fearless and fun is dead, but the hardest thing to think about is her two lovely little children. They would come in to Portcullis House for tea with their mum, and now she’s gone. | It’s hard to believe that someone so brave and fearless and fun is dead, but the hardest thing to think about is her two lovely little children. They would come in to Portcullis House for tea with their mum, and now she’s gone. |
| Friday’s other politics news | Friday’s other politics news |
| Bill Gates has backed Britain remaining in the EU. In a letter to the Times, the Microsoft says the UK is “stronger, more prosperous and more influential” as a member of the union, and warns that Brexit would make it a “significantly less attractive place to do business and invest”. | Bill Gates has backed Britain remaining in the EU. In a letter to the Times, the Microsoft says the UK is “stronger, more prosperous and more influential” as a member of the union, and warns that Brexit would make it a “significantly less attractive place to do business and invest”. |
| Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan won the Tooting byelection in south London last night, in a contest overshadowed by the loss of her colleague. Allin-Khan took more than 50% of votes cast – albeit on a turnout much reduced since the 2015 general election (69.7% then to 42.5% today) – and with a majority of 6,357 over Conservative candidate Dan Watkins. | Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan won the Tooting byelection in south London last night, in a contest overshadowed by the loss of her colleague. Allin-Khan took more than 50% of votes cast – albeit on a turnout much reduced since the 2015 general election (69.7% then to 42.5% today) – and with a majority of 6,357 over Conservative candidate Dan Watkins. |
| A poster unveiled by Nigel Farage for the leave campaign has been reported to the police with a complaint that it incites racial hatred. The Unison union general secretary, Dave Prentis, said he had contacted the Metropolitan police. The poster shows a queue of refugees with the slogan “Breaking point: the EU has failed us all.” Boris Johnson, head of the official Vote Leave campaign, said the poster was “not our campaign” and “not my politics”. | A poster unveiled by Nigel Farage for the leave campaign has been reported to the police with a complaint that it incites racial hatred. The Unison union general secretary, Dave Prentis, said he had contacted the Metropolitan police. The poster shows a queue of refugees with the slogan “Breaking point: the EU has failed us all.” Boris Johnson, head of the official Vote Leave campaign, said the poster was “not our campaign” and “not my politics”. |