The closest friends of Jo Cox are planning to carry on her work in combating loneliness, fighting extremism and supporting civilians in war-torn Syria, in an effort to build a legacy for which she will be remembered.
They say that Cox was first and foremost a campaigner and an activist; a woman who, in the words of her husband, Brendan, fought every day for a better world. They know that the death of this Yorkshire-made MP, whose political vision stretched from her Batley and Spen constituency to Syria, has not just shocked Westminster, but left it, and much of the country, stunned.
Now dozens of her friends, many of them also committed campaigners, have come together to continue her fight. In particular, they will mark her work in tackling Britain’s epidemic of loneliness that she witnessed day in, day out in her own constituency, her attempts to resist the politics of the far-right and her campaigning to try to improve the plight of refugees fleeing Syria.
Within hours of setting up a fund on her behalf, the friends had attracted donations of more than £200,000, for three charities:
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The Royal Voluntary Service, which helps secure volunteers to enrich the lives of older people, including many in Batley and Spen itself.
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Hope Not Hate, which says its aim is to provide a positive antidote to extremist parties such as the BNP and is at the forefront of anti-racist and anti-fascist campaigning.
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The White Helmets, which has rescued more than 40,000 people from under the rubble of the bombs dropped on Syria, a country whose plight was at the forefront of Cox’s campaigning in parliament.
Quoting her husband’s statement that she had an “energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people”, her friends laid down a call to arms, saying: “Let’s come together and give what we can to create that better world.” A series of events are planned for Wednesday.
They know that Cox’s activism stretches back long before she entered parliament, when she worked for the NGO Oxfam, travelling to some of the most dangerous places of the world, meeting David Cameron in Darfur back in 2006.
She was also chair of the Labour Women’s Network, who called her a “tireless and brave campaigner for the marginalised and voiceless”. The group, under her care, fought to improve the chances of women in parliament, an issue that Cox focused on until the end. She was planning to set up a research institute on the impact of policy on women when she was given the chance to contest Batley and Spen, where she was born and raised.
Friends of Cox are organising events across the world to remember her, but also unite against hate and divisiveness, this Wednesday, 22 June, on the day that would have been her 42nd birthday.
The main gathering will be between 4 and 5pm in Trafalgar Square in London, after the mayor Sadiq Khan granted permission, but there will also be remembrances in her constituency in Yorkshire, and in Brussels, New York and Washington DC, with the possibility of a link to festival goers at Glastonbury. Although there will be a theme around taking on the politics of hate, her husband Brendan is keen that the events do not focus on a single issue, including the EU referendum.
That is despite the fact that he and his wife were committed in campaigners to remain in the European union.
Cox’s friends have thanked people for “the outpouring of love and
support that has been flooding in”, saying that Brendan is “deeply grateful for all the support he and the family are receiving from so many wonderful people out there”.
Her Labour colleague Dan Jarvis said she had an “energy, passion and commitment that transcended party politics”, was widely respected across the chamber and was someone who was “trusted and instantly liked”.
Jarvis said he had no doubt that Cox would have gone on to achieve much more in parliament, particularly in the causes that she gave so much of her life defending. “Jo will long be remembered as a formidable campaigner who fought so hard to give a voice to the voiceless,” he said.
Stephen Kinnock, who, like Cox, entered parliament in 2015 and shared an office with her, agreed that she lived her life by the values that defined what was best about Britain – “internationalism, compassion and solidarity”. Kinnock said he was devastated. His friend of 20 years was someone who believed actions spoke louder than words and said that, to honour her, required others to reflect her values. “We must unite and act to defeat the forces of division, intolerance, populism, nationalism and cynicism,” he said, echoing her husband’s words that she fought every day to make things better.
One MP wrote to her constituents asking them to take part in a day of action for refugees in Calais in honour of Cox. “Jo was never one for sitting in meetings; she knew social justice requires all of us to get stuck into making change happen. That’s why I’m asking residents to join me in a weekend of action in her memory,” wrote Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow.
Another colleague, Heidi Alexander, the shadow health secretary, said the saddest thing was that she wished she had become a closer friend of Cox’s. She said she loved the idea of her family life on a houseboat moored on the river Thames and wished she had managed to accept an invitation to go there for a drink. Alexander wrote on her website about chatting to the Yorkshire MP as they voted in the House of Commons, wearing trainers as they filed past the Commons clerks.
She summed up Cox by saying: “She was someone who looked you in the eye when she spoke to you, not over your shoulder waiting for someone more important to come along.”
