Jo Cox

Helen Joanne "Jo" Cox was a Labour Partypolitician in the United Kingdom. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Batley and Spen having retained the seat for Labour in the 2015 general election.

On 16 June 2016, Cox was fatally shot and stabbed during her lunch break inBirstall, West Yorkshire, where she had been holding a surgery with her constituents. She was left in a critical condition and subsequently died from her injuries; a 52-year-old man was subsequently arrested.

Cox was born on 22 June 1974 in Batley, West Yorkshire, England. She was educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School, a state grammar school in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire. She studied at Pembroke College, Cambridge, graduating in 1995.

She was head of policy for Oxfam and was an advisor to Sarah Brown and Baroness Kinnock. She was national chair of Labour Women's Network and a senior advisor to the Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery charity.

Cox was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015. However, in the election she voted for Liz Kendall, and announced on 6 May 2016 after the local elections that she and fellow MP Neil Coyle regretted nominating Corbyn.

In October 2015 she co-authored, with Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, an article in The Observer arguing that British military forces could help achieve an ethical solution to the conflict in Syria.

 During that month Cox launched the All Party Parliamentary Friends of Syria group, becoming its chair. In the subsequent vote for UK military intervention in Syria she abstained, as she did not consider the intervention to be part of an effective comprehensive strategy to tackle the Syrian conflict including dealing with President Bashar al-Assad.

 The Syrian Civil War is one of Cox's main campaigning issues.

Cox supported the 'Remain' campaign during the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016.

On 16 June 2016, Cox was fatally shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

According to eye witnesses, she was shot three times – once near the head – and stabbed multiple times by a male assailant. It was possibly a reference to Britain First, a far-right party who issued a statement denying any involvement or encouragement in the attack, suggesting that the phrase "could have been a slogan rather than a reference to our party".

The attack left another man with slight injuries. She died from her injuries at Leeds General Infirmary.

A 52-year-old man, named locally as Thomas "Tommy" Mair, was subsequently arrested. Campaigning in the EU referendum was suspended on both sides as a mark of respect.