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MPs pay tribute to Jo Cox's 'humanity, compassion and irrepressible spirit' | MPs pay tribute to Jo Cox's 'humanity, compassion and irrepressible spirit' |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Politicians of all stripes came wearing white roses, a symbol of Jo Cox’s beloved Yorkshire. Many too wore the purples, greens and whites of the suffragettes to mark her feminism, just as guests had dressed for her wedding. | |
With her husband, Brendan, and two young children watching from the gallery of the Commons, Westminster spent an hour remembering the MP for Batley and Spen who was killed in broad daylight last week. In a chamber famed for its noise, the tributes were delivered largely in silence, and many of those speaking and listening found themselves moved to tears. | |
Rachel Reeves, a close friend of Cox’s and a Labour colleague, finished her speech by breaking down and crumpling into her seat. She spoke poignantly of a moment less than 24 hours after Cox’s death when she was approached by a woman at a cafe in the Batley and Spen constituency. | |
“A woman came over to me and said she hadn’t known Jo but that her death had made her want to be a bit more like her,” Reeves said. “A better person, a better mother, a better daughter, a better wife.” That, it seems, was how Cox made everyone around her feel. | |
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the death of his colleague should mark the start of a “kinder and gentler politics”, arguing that all politicians had a duty “not to whip up hatred” in the wake of her killing. He said Cox had been killed in what appeared to be an act of extreme political violence. | |
“Jo Cox didn’t just believe in loving her neighbour, but her neighbour’s neighbour. She saw a world of neighbours and believed that everyone counted equally,” Corbyn said. | |
He also praised Cox for speaking out for refugees and the Palestinian people, and against Islamophobia. “Her integrity and talent was known to everyone in this house,” he said, as it emerged that her constituency and Commons staff had returned to the office to carry on her casework, despite some of them witnessing last week’s atrocity. | |
David Cameron told MPs that Cox’s boundless energy had “lit up the lives of all who knew her and saved the lives of many she never met”. | |
“She was a humanitarian to her core, a passionate and brilliant campaigner whose grit and determination saw her time and time again driving issues up the agenda and making people listen and act,” he said. | |
The prime minister drew attention to her work raising awareness of conflicts in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, exposing “the despicable practice of rape in war”, reducing mortality in childbirth and supporting refugees fleeing Syria. “There are people on our planet today who are only here and alive because of Jo,” he said, calling her a committed democrat and passionate feminist. | |
Cameron quoted the Labour MP Alison McGovern, a close friend of Cox’s, who said “Jo, we mourn your loss, yet know that all you stood for is unbreakable. We promise to stand up, even though we are broken. We promise that we will never be cowed by hate.” | |
When she spoke, McGovern told the house: “When Jo spoke, we all listened.” She called for Cox’s own words to ring out in her memory, and highlighted the argument she had made about her own constituency where she said that different ethnic groups had “more in common” than divided them. The phrase will now be at the heart of worldwide efforts on Wednesday to build a legacy for Cox. | |
Parliamentarians heard warm descriptions of Cox’s humour and sense of fun from friends on both the Labour and Conservative side. | |
Andrew Mitchell, a former Conservative chief whip, spoke of their united work on Syria, saying that Cox would not have wanted the “vile and unspeakable” act to stop the open relationship that MPs have with constituents. | |
Stephen Kinnock, who shared an office with Cox, commented on the political context of the killing, which came after Nigel Farage unveiled a poster that had the words “breaking point” over a picture of fleeing refugees. | Stephen Kinnock, who shared an office with Cox, commented on the political context of the killing, which came after Nigel Farage unveiled a poster that had the words “breaking point” over a picture of fleeing refugees. |
“I can only imagine Jo’s reaction had she seen the poster unveiled hours before her death. A poster on the streets of Britain that demonised hundreds of desperate refugees including hungry, terrified children fleeing from the terror of Isis and Russian bombs,” he said. | “I can only imagine Jo’s reaction had she seen the poster unveiled hours before her death. A poster on the streets of Britain that demonised hundreds of desperate refugees including hungry, terrified children fleeing from the terror of Isis and Russian bombs,” he said. |
“She would have responded with outrage and a robust rejection of the calculated narrative of cynicism, division and despair that it represents. Jo understood that rhetoric has consequences.” | “She would have responded with outrage and a robust rejection of the calculated narrative of cynicism, division and despair that it represents. Jo understood that rhetoric has consequences.” |
Others spoke of Cox’s passion for women’s rights. Harriet Harman, who has been at the forefront of that movement inside the Labour party, reminded colleagues that the MP had first chaired the Labour Women’s Network. | Others spoke of Cox’s passion for women’s rights. Harriet Harman, who has been at the forefront of that movement inside the Labour party, reminded colleagues that the MP had first chaired the Labour Women’s Network. |
“So many Labour women in this chamber and who are so deeply mourning her loss were women she helped,” said Harman. She talked about Cox arriving for a meeting with her baby son. “I remember it because she literally didn’t stop kissing him all the way through the meeting.” | |
Harman said there was no dividing line between Cox’s maternal and political heart. “Her children will grow up to know what an amazing woman their mother was.” | |
The tributes poured in after an introduction by the Speaker, John Bercow, who said Cox had been determined to live life to the full. He said the attack had struck “not only at an individual, but at our freedom”. | |
MPs also heard Corbyn, Cameron and others quote the maiden speech Cox delivered in the same chamber. | |
“While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us,” she said. | “While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us,” she said. |
On Wednesday, the day that should have marked Cox’s 42nd birthday, there will be a global celebration of her life and values that will call on people to unite against hatred and division. | |
More than £1m has been raised for three charities dedicated to causes that were close to Cox’s heart: the Royal Voluntary Service, which supports people suffering from loneliness; Hope not Hate, which challenges extremism; and the White Helmets, which supports rescue workers in Syria. | |
Reeves said: “It is ironic that after travelling the world to some of the most damaged, war-ravaged places, Jo died so near to her home. But she died doing the job that she loved, in the place that she loved, representing the people she loved.” It fell on parliament’s shoulders to carry on her work, she added. | |
‘More in common’ | ‘More in common’ |
The phrase “more in common” has been placed at the heart of attempts by friends and family to build a legacy for Cox. | |
Holly Lynch, the MP for Halifax, near Cox’s constituency, said she was the “very best of us”. | |
“She may well have been small but in politics as in life she packed a punch beyond measure,” Lynch said. “She had a clarity about what she was here to achieve and was not going to waste any time getting on with it.” | |
She called Cox a daughter of Yorkshire who fought tirelessly for those who put their faith in her. “I will remember Jo in the voting lobbies in her cycling gear and trainers leaving us all to wonder where did she find the energy. I will remember her warmth, spirit and her laugh.” | |
Earlier, at a meeting convened by the leader of the House, Chris Grayling, and the home secretary, Theresa May, MPs warned of cases of stalkers and harassment and called for better security as they carried out their jobs. | |
A source said there was recognition of a need for a greater coordination between house authorities and the police, and for improvements to the “cumbersome and slow implementation” of a parliamentary system through which MPs could apply for security measures. | A source said there was recognition of a need for a greater coordination between house authorities and the police, and for improvements to the “cumbersome and slow implementation” of a parliamentary system through which MPs could apply for security measures. |