
Helen Joanne "Jo" Cox (22 June 1974 – 16 June 2016) was a Labour Party member of parliament for Batley and Spen from 8 May 2015 to 16 June 2016, succeeding Mike Wood and preceding Tracy Brabin. She was assassinated in 2016 by a Britain First supporter.
Biography[]
Helen Joanne Ledbeater was born on 22 June 1974 in Batley, West Yorkshire, England, the sister of Kim Leadbeater. She graduated from Pembroke College in 1995 after studying social and political studies, and she became head of policy for Oxfam before becoming national chair of the Labor Women's Network. On 8 May 2015, she was appointed a member of parliament from Batley and Spen, and she supported the "remain" campaign during the Brexit referendum of 2016. On 16 June 2016, she was fatally shot and stabbed by the 52-year-old Thomas Mair, a Britain First supporter who shouted out, "Britain first!" while carrying out the attack; Mair proceeded to injure the elderly Bernard Carter-Kenny. Cox died at the Leeds General Infirmary, the first MP to be assassinated since the 1990 assassination of Ian Gow by the IRA, as well as the first woman and first UK Labor Party member to be assassinated.