Jo Cox, 41, the British Labor party MP who was shot and stabbed on June 16, has died from her injuries. After news of her death, Prime Minister David Cameron described her as “committed and caring,” and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called her a “much loved colleague.”
Here’s what you need to know about the young, popular MP:
1. Cox Was Attacked After a Meeting in Birstall, England
Jo Cox, the 42-year-old British MP, was shot outside a library in Birstall, England. (Getty)
According Wakefield police, Cox sustained fatal injuries after she was shot and stabbed following a constituency in Birstall, England. Suspect Tommy Mair, 52, has been arrested and police report that they are not looking for anyone else. An unidentified man, 77, was also slightly injured in the attack.
2. She Was Elected as a Member of Parliament for Batley & Spen in 2015
She was only elected to Parliament last year, but had already begun making a name for herself. She was the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Syria and strongly voiced her support for military intervention in Syria, despite Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition. She argued the case for humanitarian action in an article co-written by Andrew Mitchell, former Conservative aid secretary.
3. She Supported the Remain Campaign in the Brexit Referendum
Today I am proud to stand with Labour MPs voting to remain in the EU
#LabourInForBritain #InternationalWomenDay
With just a week to go before the EU referendum, Cox had been advocating hard for the remain campaign. Immigration was an important issue to her, and she used the reminder of differences as strengths to make the case for Britain remaining within the EU. She stated during her first speech in the Commons:
“While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”
EU referendum campaigning has been suspended for the day in light of Cox’s death.
4. She Was an Aid Worker Prior to Joining Parliament
Very happy to be supporting #EarthHourUK tonight. My lights will be switched off for an hour at 8.30 @wwf_uk
Before being elected to Parliament in 2015, Cox had many years of experience as an aid worker and advisor for global charities. According to her LinkedIn profile, she spent five years working for Oxfam in Belgium, the U.S., and the U.K. She was a Strategy Consultant for Save the Children and NSPCC, as well as a Strategic Adviser for both The Freedom Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Additionally, she served as a Patron, Trustee, and Board member for various other campaigns and causes. She also received the Young Global Leader award in 2009 at the Davos World Economic Forum, and was a winner of the DEVEX 40 under 40 International Development Leaders Award in 2012.
5. She & Her Husband Brendan Have 2 Children
My hubby @MrBrendanCox & children taking part in the battle of the #Thames – because we’re #StrongerIn #Remain
According to The Independent Cox and her husband Brendan met while she was working for Oxfam and he was working for Save the Children. The couple have lived with their two young children, a boy and a girl, in a houseboat on the river Thames.
Husband Brendan issued the following statement about the MP shortly after her death:
Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.
Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.