‘We know that there are some evil people in this world, but there are an awful lot of good people too’
Family’s tribute to Jo Cox, and the power of love
THE parents and sister of Jo Cox paid a moving tribute to the Labour MP yesterday, during a visit to the scene of her murder.
They vowed that their “broken family” would “mend over time” and insisted that the late MP’s positive outlook on life would win out over “evil”.
Gordon and Jean Leadbeater and their only surviving child, Kim Leadbeater, embraced as they surveyed the sea of flowers left at Birstall marketplace in the 48 hours since the killing.
Kim, 40, said of her sister: “From a very young age all Jo ever wanted was for everyone to be happy. We were brought up to see the positive in everything and everyone, and have endeavoured to do so all our lives.
“We know that there are some evil people in this world, but there are an awful lot of good people too.”
A fund set up by Mrs Cox’s friends had raised more than £450,000 yesterday evening, in a little over a day. Three charities selected by the Cox family and husband Brendan will benefit.
Yesterday, Thomas Mair, 52, from Birstall, in Yorkshire, appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court charged with murdering Mrs Cox. Asked to state his name, Mr Mair, who was remanded in custody, replied: “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”
JUST two days ago Jo Cox had been gunned down in cold blood. Yesterday Kim Leadbeater, her parents at her side, stood yards from the scene of the murder and delivered the most remarkable and beautiful tribute to the “utterly amazing woman” that was her sister.
“There are some things in life you should never have to do,” she told the tearful crowd gathered at Birstall marketplace. “Last night I had to go and identify my sister’s body. Yes, this was Jo Cox MP, and she was many things to many people in her too-short life, but she was my sister, my only sibling, my parents’ first-born child, a wife and a mum.”
Clutching the last bouquet of roses for sale in the local florists, Miss Leadbeater, 40, had led her parents Gordon and Jean to the spot where the MP had been murdered.
Jo’s husband, Brendan, had remained in London looking after their two children Lejla, three, and Cuillin, five.
“For now our family is broken, but we will mend over time, and we will never let Jo leave our lives,” said Miss Leadbeater, “She was a human being, and she was perfect.”
Miss Leadbeater admitted the family were “quite private people” who were deliberately left out of the public eye by Jo. She explained that she could never have imagined they would be propelled onto this public stage and certainly not in such “horrendous” circumstances. But such has been the public outpouring of grief that she felt moved to speak.
And the first words she said were “thank you”, again and again, to bystanders still numb with grief.
“This is unbelievable and we all appreciate this massively,” she said. “It is absolutely beautiful.”
Upon being selected as an MP 13-months ago Jo Cox had spoken of her background growing up in Heckmondwike, a nearby village. Her mother worked as a school secretary, her father in a toothpaste and hairspray factory in Leeds. She said she “could not be more proud” of her roots.
Yesterday her sister elaborated on this. “From a very young age all Jo ever wanted was for everyone to be happy,” she said. “We were brought up to see the positive in everything and everyone, and have endeavoured to do so all our lives. Our parents instilled in us a real glass-half-full mentality, and while I sometimes tend to add a large measure of Yorkshire cynicism to this, Jo generally did not. She only saw the good.”
Miss Leadbeater said it was the words and endless tributes that were getting the family through their darkest days.
“Over the past 48 hours people have not been silent,” she said. “They have been vocal and passionate, and spoken from the heart with genuine emotion and no hidden agendas. Jo would have loved it.”
The family were flanked by Jo Cox’s parliamentary aides, Sandra Mason and Fazila Aswat, who were by her side when she was brutally killed. Fazila left a bunch of flowers with the simple message “forever in my prayers”.
Her father Gulam, a retired local councillor, was among the crowd of mourners and said his daughter – like so many – was still struggling to come to terms with the murder. “Fazila is still in shock. Hopefully she will come out of it sooner or later and we are giving her comfort,” he said. “I have known Jo since she was selected as an MP and she was the heart of this community. She was like a daughter to me.”
After they had read the tributes, the family did not leave the scene. Instead they walked in a slow circle, hugging and kissing tearful friends and total strangers. Jo’s mother told one woman the family would still hold a party to mark her birthday in four days’ time.
In her speech, Miss Leadbeater thanked Bernard Kenny personally for his bravery. The 77-year-old former miner is still recuperating in hospital, having been stabbed in the abdomen as he tried to save Jo Cox’s life.
“Our thoughts and thanks go to him and his family, and we wish him well in his recovery,” Miss Leadbeater said. “What an amazing man.”
She also paid tribute to the bravery of her parliamentary aides whom she described as “two of the most wonderful women you will ever meet”.
Miss Leadbeater spoke of the abuse her sister was used to receiving on social media for the principled stances she took and for her unwavering belief in the causes she championed.
Even though it was at times so unpleasant that the two of them would “cry together”, she said Jo always preferred to focus on the positive and “the silent majority” who she knew were in her corner. “We know that there are some evil people in this world, but there are an awful lot of good people too,” she declared.
Yesterday afternoon represented that triumph over evil. Her family are determined that some good should come of her senseless killing. Echoing that sense of unity, it was disclosed last night that John Bercow, the Speaker in the House of Commons, was considering a request from MPs to break with tradition and allow parties to sit on mixed benches on Monday, as tributes are made to Mrs Cox in a special session of Parliament.
If further evidence was needed of the good that has come out of the evil, there is the fund set up in her memory by her friends and with the backing of her family. By yesterday evening, it had raised more than £558,000 in a little over a day.
More than 15,200 people had donated to Jo Cox’s Fund in a remarkable show of support for the murdered MP.
“There has been such an extraordinary outpouring of love and people just feel they want to do something,” said Tim Dixon, a charity campaigner, who co-founded the fund. “Everybody around Jo is just so overwhelmed by the response.”
Mr Dixon had been in a meeting in London with Brendan Cox on Thursday when the call came through that she had been stabbed and shot in her constituency in Yorkshire. “He just got this call and raced out,” recalled Mr Dixon. Over the next 24 hours, Mr Dixon and close friends and associates ‘For now our family is broken, but we will mend over time, and we will never let Jo leave our lives’ Nick Grono, Mabel van Oranje and Gemma Mortensen working “in close collaboration” with Mr Cox, decided to set up Jo Cox’s Fund.
The three charities that will receive the money – The Royal Voluntary Service combating loneliness in Mrs Cox’s constituency, Hope not Hate, an antiextremism charity, and The White Helmets, a volunteer search and rescue charity working in Syria – were chosen by Mr Cox and his wife’s family.
The initial target to raise £25,000 was smashed within three hours after Mr Cox tweeted his support: “Protecting people in Syria, tackling loneliness & fighting extremism; some of the causes Jo fought 4. U can help here” and included a link to the fundraising website GoFundMe.
Mr Dixon, who had been running a refugee campaign with Mrs Cox and
‘Jo was a super-practical person and always looking for a positive step to do something for people’s lives’
had previously worked with her on Syrian issues, said the inspiration for the fund was born out of the Labour MP’s own determination to get things done.
“Jo was always doing something. She had such a passion for so many causes. One of the things about Jo was she was a super-practical person and was always looking for a positive step to do something for people’s lives,” said Mr Dixon.
Matthew Collins, from Hope Not Hate, said: “We are just incredibly humbled that Brendan and Jo’s friends thought of us in such a dark hour. The money will go to the community work we do.
“Like any other charity we are struggling to make ends meet. This money will keep us safe from closure for quite some time.”
A Labour shadow cabinet member has told The Telegraph they believe it would be a “fitting tribute” to Jo Cox if her husband ran for her seat.
They said: “Brendan would, no doubt, continue Jo’s great work but it is matter for the local party to decide candidates. But I suspect it is very likely that the [local party] would very much welcome Brendan as their candidate.”