Jo Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire, was murdered in 2016. The description about her on The Jo Cox Foundation website reads that she was a “passionate campaigner, activist and humanitarian; a proud Yorkshire lass and internationalist.”

It further reads, “She was driven by her belief that a fairer, kinder and more tolerant world was possible. She believed passionately that even the greatest challenges could be overcome.” In her first speech in the Parliament, she stated her belief  that “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”.

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Jo Cox was born on June 22, 1974, and grew up in the town of Heckmondwike, Batley. Interestingly, she was the first in her family to go to college. Jo studied Social and Political Sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Soon after her graduation in 1995, she started working as the parliamentary adviser to labour MP Joan Walley, marking her entry into politics. She later moved to Brussels to become a political advisor to Glenys Kinnock MEP. 

After winning 43.2% of the vote, she became the Labour representative for  Batley and Spen constituency in early 2015. She even campaigned for Remain ahead of the EU Referendum. 

However, Jo Cox was murdered at the age of 41. 

On June 16, 2016, she was assassinated by a right-wing man in the days leading to the EU referendum that took place on June 23. He assassination marked the first ever murder of an MP in over 25 years. 

Thomas Mair repeatedly stabbed her, shouting: ‘Britain first’. He was sentenced for life. 

A neo-Nazi literature was discovered later at Mair’s house after his arrest. It accompanied a golden Third Reich eagle ornament with a swastika on the front. 

A dossier on Jo Cox was also among the many questionable things retrieved from his house.