U.K. MP SHOT, STABBED ON THE STREET
ATTACKER SHOUTED ‘BRITAIN FIRST’ BEFORE KILLING MOTHER OF TWO
LONDON • Jo Cox, a British lawmaker campaigning for the country to stay in the European Union, was shot three times Thursday and repeatedly stabbed by a killer screaming “Britain first.”
The murder of the 41- year- old mother of two, the first killing of a British MP in more than a quartercentury, prompted widespread revulsion and led to the suspension of campaigning for the EU referendum. Police arrested a 52- year- old former psychiatric patient, identified as Tommy Mair.
Cox, a Labour party legislator who praised the contribution of immigrants to Britain and championed the cause of war-scarred Syrian refugees, was attacked outside a library in Birstall, northern England, after a regular meeting with constituents.
According to witnesses, her killer used an antique or a homemade gun which he calmly reloaded with a single bullet between shots. As she lay bleeding to death, he repeatedly kicked her before walking away, having stabbed a 77- year- old man who tried to intervene.
Clarke Rothwell, who saw the attack, said that as the man shot and stabbed Cox, he shouted, "Britain First, Britain First, Britain First.”
Police will investigate whether Cox, MP for Batley and Spen in Yorkshire, was targeted because of her support for the campaign to remain in the EU. A referendum next week on the question has deeply divided the country and led to much heated debate.
Both the Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe campaigns suspended activity after her death.
Cox had spoken out against the “racism and fascism” of Britain First, an anti-Islamic right-wing group.
In her first speech to Parliament last year, she also described how the area she represented had “been deeply enhanced by immigration, be it of Irish Catholics across the constituency or of Muslims from Gujarat in India or from Pakistan.”
Immigration has been a flashpoint in the referendum campaign, with many “leave” supporters eager to curb the number of migrants to Britain by leaving the EU, which operates on the principle of free movement of people among member states.
Cox’s husband, Brendan, released a statement after her death saying, “Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love.
“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.”
“This is absolutely tragic and dreadful news,” said Prime Minister David Cameron. “We have lost a great star. She was a great campaigning MP with huge compassion and a big heart.”
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said: “In the coming days, there will be questions to answer about how and why she died. But for now all our thoughts are with Jo’s husband Brendan and their two young children.”
Among the world and European leaders expressing shock was Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democrat congresswoman from Arizona, who was shot in 2011. She said the killing was a “manifestation of a coarseness in our politics and hatred toward the other that we must not tolerate.”
Cox was the first MP to be murdered since Ian Gow, who was assassinated by the Irish Republican Army in a car bomb outside his home in 1990.
Mair’s brother Scott, 49, said: “I am struggling to believe what has happened. My brother is not violent and is not all that political. I don’t even know who he votes for. He has a history of mental illness, but he has had help.”
Cox spent many years working for aid groups, including Oxfam and Save the Children, visiting problemplagued areas, including Darfur and Afghanistan.
She was elected to the House of Commons in the May 2015 general election and headed Parliament’s Friends of Syria group.
She was one of the most outspoken lawmakers on the Syrian civil war, and was critical of Britain’s reluctance to deepen its military involvement against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as part of efforts to end it. But she abstained last year when Parliament voted to launch air strikes on ISIL targets in Syria, saying a more wide- ranging solution was needed.