THE MEMBER of Parliament from Northfield has paid tribute to colleague Jo Cox who was killed last Thursday in her constituency of West Yorkshire.
Richard Burden said Jo Cox had a special kind of magnetism which made people want to get to know her and said everyone who knew her called her ‘a friend’ and could not help but love her.
“One personal bond between her and me was that we were both boat-dwellers in London.
“When, a few months ago, I had to move out of the boat on which I rented a flat, Jo went in a mission to find me another one.
“Sadly, that was one of the few campaigns in which she was not successful.
“I knew Jo best through working with her on Middle East, particularly on Palestine where her commitment to peace, justice, human rights shone through.
“It was even clearer in the work she did on Syria where she made such a difference.”
On Wednesday (June 22), Jo would have been 42 and there were celebrations of her life in cities across all continents of the world.
Mr Burden added it showed how many people’s lives she touched and described the humanity showed by Jo’s family in the last week as ‘inspirational’.
“Our thoughts now, and going forward are with her husband Brendan, her children Cuilllin and Lejla, with her parents and with her sister.”
He concluded by saying the best way to remember Jo was to always continue to speak out and to never let politics hate and division win through.
