Never betray the values Jo lived for
She wasn’t for power. She wasn’t for money. She was for us,” said one of Jo Cox’s tearful constituents in the aftermath of her brutal killing. Never in all my years in this job have I seen the death of a public figure devastate people the way the slaying of Jo Cox has.
Her friends, her vicar, other politicians, her Batley constituents, all spoke about losing her with quivering lips, cracking voices and eyes brimming with tears. The death of this young mum was incomprehensible to them. She was too young. She was beautiful. She had two small children.
How could this happen to their friend, their MP, a woman they believed was destined for great things but whose actual destiny put her into the path of a brutal killer who stole her glittering future in one frenzied, bloodied instant.
But Jo Cox’s death isn’t, as some have sickeningly insinuated, the fault of the referendum campaign or the political climate resulting from it. Referendums don’t make people kill. And blaming what happened on the political climate absolves her killer of responsibility.
This was down to one sick individual claimed to have far right sympathies and a history of mental illness, for which he had reportedly been on medication for years.
Which is why people voting to Leave or Remain on Thursday must not be made to feel their views on the EU have in any way contributed to Jo’s death.
She was fiercely determined in her beliefs. She was also dedicated to the process of democracy and would never have wanted it stifled in her name.
But one of the problems with democracy and the freedoms that go with it is that unexploded human bombs roam freely among us. Jo was a victim of those freedoms but she was also their champion.
She used our democracy to shout about the issues she cared about. And we heard her.
But Tommy Mair, the man charged with her murder, wanted to be heard too.
And those people complaining that recent political debate had been so vicious it might have led to Jo’s slaying are shamefully exploiting it. Political debate is supposed to engage people, to influence and infuriate them. To change hearts and minds. We can’t stop talking about issues affecting our country in case someone with a mental illness takes issue with it.
I was appalled that within hours of Jo’s death EU opportunists who claimed to be devastated by it wasted no time in politicising it, insisting it was a direct result of the Brexit campaign. And it doesn’t get sicker than that.
Because at the heart of all this is a dad having to explain to his children why Mummy isn’t there any more. Jo Cox’s death is a human tragedy – not a consequence of her politics or her beliefs.
But if her death changes what any of us believe, then it will have been in vain. Because anyone who knew this Yorkshire firebrand can’t imagine she’d ever ditch HER beliefs because of one deranged man. And she wouldn’ t expect anyone else to.
The British people must not be made to feel guilty about holding the same views today as they did last week because one sick man slayed a much loved politician. Which is why on Thursday we must all vote for what we believe in. Anything less is a betrayal of the values Jo lived – and died – for.
But the question that keeps banging round in my head is, why life is so bloody unfair? Why do the violent, the twisted, the fatally flawed get to live out their lives but the good ones, those born to make a difference, don’t?
I don’t suppose it’s a question Jo Cox would have wasted much time on because it’s a bit soppy and self-indulgent. She would have just got on with making the world a better place.
As must we.
The point of politics is to engage us
Joey Essex says his dream date would be Pippa Middleton. Yes, and I’m sure Pippa Middleton would rather date a chimpanzee than the brain-free zone that is Joey. Come to think of it – how could she tell the difference?
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