It was eight years ago today that Kim Leadbeater heard the most awful news – that her older sister, the MP Jo Cox, had been murdered outside her constituency surgery.
Understandably, Kim still feels “a lot of anger” about what happened, but she has tried to turn that anger into something positive. And that is why the 48-year-old – who took over Jo’s parliamentary seat in Batley and Spen, West Yorks – is so concerned politicians are still being attacked.
Condemning the recent assaults on Reform leader Nigel Farage, who had drinks and cups hurled at him on the campaign trail in Barnsley, South Yorks, and Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, Kim says: “There should never be a place for violence, personal insults and abuse.
“And it makes me really sad that eight years on from Jo’s murder, we’re still seeing some of that totally unacceptable behaviour. There’s absolutely no place for violence, threats, intimidation and abuse in public life. Politics should be a place where we can have robust, passionate debates and discussions on the issues that matter.”
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Jo’s killing in Birstall, West Yorks, in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum rocked the nation. The 41-year-old mum-of-two was shot three times and stabbed 15 times. Later that year, a reclusive neo-Nazi was jailed for life for her murder. At his trial, the jury were told two extremes of humanity came face to face that day – the killer’s hatred and the goodness of Jo and those who tried to help her.
It’s clear that goodness lives on in Kim, who won the Batley and Spen seat for Labour in 2021 and was also made an MBE for services to social cohesion. She says: “There is a lot of anger in society; a lot of frustration. People are struggling in lots of different ways.
“After what happened to my family, I have a lot of anger. But the question is what we do with the anger and how we channel [it]. What I’ve tried to do is channel it into something positive and try to make a difference.
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“The most inspirational people for me are the people who have chosen to take their dreadful experience – people like Rob Burrow. Something really horrible happened to him, but what he and his family chose to do is to create as much positivity as possible.
“So I would say to people, whatever has happened in your life, however angry or frustrated you are, it’s always worth taking a moment to think, ‘What can I do with these emotions?’” Despite the horror of Jo’s death, Kim insists she feels safe as she pounds the Spen Valley pavements – although on police advice, she always carries personal alarms.
She says: “It’s fair to say it’s always at the back of your mind. I have to be a realist about the climate we
are in. Most MPs deal with a certain level of abuse. Unfortunately, politicians have been dehumanised and considered fair game.”
Next weekend marks what would have been Jo’s 50th birthday, which Kim knows will be difficult. “When you lose someone under those circumstances, every day is hard.” The worst time, she admits, was when she turned 42 – and became “older than Jo would ever be”.
Kim says: “I found that really, really difficult. For Jo to be turning 50, it does feel really emotional and very difficult for Mum and Dad. But we will remember how amazing she was.” The family will take comfort in the Jo Cox Foundation’s Great Get Together community event, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
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It was inspired by Jo’s belief – and first speech in Parliament – that “we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”. Jo’s children Cuillin and Lejla, now 13 and 11, will be attending the event – and the kids have also been helping their aunt leaflet in her election campaign. “We really work hard to keep them connected to Yorkshire,” Kim says. And she believes their mum would be “incredibly proud” that her sister became an MP.
She says: “She always encouraged me to do it. I would always say, ‘How do you do this? This job is awful!’ and she would say, ‘Well look… politics needs good people’.” While many might expect Kim to find it hard returning to Birstall, she often makes a point of going there. Kim says: “It wasn’t Birstall’s fault what happened and it wasn’t the people of Birstall’s fault.
“And Birstall is a lovely little town with a lot to be proud of.” She also pays tribute to the late miner Bernard Kenny, 79, who was stabbed trying to save Jo’s life. Kim says he was the sort of man “who did things just because it was the right thing to do”.
She adds: “There’s not enough of that in the world. I hope that after the General Election, whoever wins, we can almost start again in thinking about the public discourse that we have and how we treat our fellow human beings. Because I do think we need a reset moment.”
And if Kim could wish for more of one thing in society, it would be compassion. “Irrespective of our differences,” she says. “The thing that Jo said in Parliament – focusing on things that we’ve got in common.”