Remembering Jo

Ten years ago, a friend of mine was brutally murdered by a fascist. She was murdered for what she believed in – what I believe in. She was murdered as she went to a constituency surgery where she had anticipated spending the next few hours helping local people as their MP. She was murdered because she was an MP. She was Jo Cox and today we are honoured to run a candid, honest, loving interview with her sister Kim Leadbeater about Jo’s life and legacy.

I don’t want to overclaim on my relationship with Jo. I suspect from everything I have heard since her death that everyone she met considered her a friend. But I did know her and care for her and was deeply disturbed and upset by her death.

Jo and I first met in 2013. I had put my name forward to be on the Executive Committee of Labour Women’s Network which she was chairing at the time. She invited me for a coffee – I think she was trying to decide if I was ‘sound’ as I had a decent chance of being elected (I was). Not – I should stress – whether I was in the right or wrong faction of the Party, but whether I would bring a factional lens to LWN which they have always striven to avoid.

READ MORE: Watch: Kim Leadbeater reflects on life and legacy of Jo Cox

Halfway through that ‘getting to know you’ coffee where we talked about the challenges women face in politics and in Labour politics in particular my phone buzzed with a new email. Even then, I was terrible at ignoring my phone (and was going through a job search at the time which would have made it even more impossible to do). The email was from a national newspaper offering me an interview. I told Jo this and the atmosphere of our meeting completely changed. She immediately sprang into action thinking about what I would need to do to get the job and how she might be able to help.

The energy she exhibited was breathtaking and impressive. Her ability to turn from ‘I need to check if this person is going to disrupt my organisation’ to ‘this is a woman with an opportunity to make a difference, how can I help?’ in that instant was what set her apart for me. Her ability to immediately assess a situation and respond to it was palpable and masterful.

Once I was elected, I invested my time over the next few years to work with Jo and others in LWN, to affiliate us as a fully constituted Socialist Society. Jo lived on a canal boat with her young family. We would frequently have our meetings in the cabin where they were docked. It was a fantastic combination of quirky and practical that suited Jo perfectly.

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I think if you were going to ascribe three words when talking about Jo, you could do worse than “Labour”, “Women” and “Network”. Jo was passionate about Labour politics but not blind to the faults of the party – especially in the way it treated women. Jo was passionate about her feminism and pushing women’s rights in very practical ways through internal party campaigning as well as working to change women’s lives for the better around the world with her international development work.

And Jo was a great networker. She would put people together who might find each other useful and interesting in such a skilled way – the mother spider (think Charlotte – not arachnophobia here) spinning a delicate and beautiful silken web that connected more people than even she knew.

It has been a long ten years since the terrible day we lost Jo. So much has changed and far too little has changed. The Labour Party has been through a series of divisions and challenges and periods of great uncertainty – from the Brexit referendum a week after Jo’s death to the fallout from the recent disastrous local elections. Whatever happens next – and however we each feel about it as individuals – I hope Labour members will realise that – in the words of Jo Cox: “We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”

LabourList will continue to platform robust debates and discuss our differences of opinion. That’s a big part of our job. But equally we are always conscious that we need to reflect on the things that we can unite around. That’s why our weekly ‘Delivering in Government’ column is so important as it reminds us all of the difference we are making. That’s why I am delighted we have the second instalment today of our weekly ‘Delivering in Local Government’ column which highlights the difference Labour makes in communities around the country. There’s plenty more to come – and if you’re a Labour councillor and want to highlight your achievements please email us!

In the meantime, let’s all remember Jo today and try to do something, however big or small, to honour her legacy.

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