Jo Cox’s widower rejects EU bureaucrat’s claim death of his wife was due to EU referendum
THE husband of slain Labour MP Jo Cox has rejected claims her death was linked to the referendum.
Despite suggestions Jo was killed because of the “nasty” referendum, grieving Brendan Cox said on Sunday “I think it has nothing to do with the 52 per cent of people that voted for Brexit.”
He added: “Jo was always very clear that it was a completely legitimate choice.”
Mrs Cox died after being shot and stabbed outside her constituency office and Mr Cox said the killing had hit him and the couple’s two young children “harder than anything could ever hit you”.
Last month controversial EU chief Martin Schulz sparked a furious backlash after directly blaming Mrs Cox’s brutal killing on the referendum campaign.
Mr Schulz claimed the tragic death was an example of how unpredictable the EU referendum campaign was.
The timing of her death — exactly a week before the June 23 referendum — prompted a suspension of campaigning by both sides.
The President of the European Parliament told the London School of Economics in September: “Who would have anticipated precisely what came next — that the campaign here in your country would get so nasty that a member of the UK Parliament, Jo Cox, would be brutally murdered in broad daylight for her political convictions.”
But no credible UK politician has linked the incident directly to referendum.
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He said: “I think the referendum was clearly a moment of heightened tension and heightened debate and some of that sometimes got out of control but I think it has nothing to do with the 52 per cent of people that voted for Brexit.
“Jo was always very clear that it was a completely legitimate choice and there were good reasons for staying and there were good reasons for going.
“Her argument came down on the side of staying but that doesn’t mean that she couldn’t see the point of view of other people that wanted to leave.”
But he warned “there is something which is stirring that I think at the moment the political centre is too complacent about.”
He continued: “I think part of it is about re-seizing a patriotic narrative.
“Britain has a long tradition of tolerance, of diversity, of being an outward looking nation — it’s many of the things that made us a great country.
“But I feel we have ceded that narrative about patriotism, particularly to the extreme right, and I think we need to regain that narrative to define Britain in an inclusive way.”
Thomas Mair, 53, has been charged with 41-year-old Mrs Cox's murder, possession of a firearm with intent and possession of an offensive weapon.
Meanwhile, speaking about the toll the death has taken on the family, Brendan Cox said he was “still in shock”.
He said the killing had hit him and the couple's two young children "harder than anything could ever hit you".
Speaking to the Andrew Marr Show on BBC One he said: "I have spent a lot of the last period really focusing on Jo and her life and I try quite hard not to spend a lot of time dwelling on how she died.
"Other than to say that it obviously came from nowhere and hit us harder than anything could ever hit you, as I say, I am trying to focus very hard on her life rather than her death."
He said he had tried to deal with it over the last four months by focusing on their two children and making sure they are okay and he said: “They have a lot of Jo’s spirit in them."
And he said there have been some "dark and difficult" times since her death but the couple's two children are "surrounded by love" and he added the support from people across the country had helped his family.
Fighting back the tears as he spoke about a conversation he had with his son Cuillin on the day of his wife’s funeral he said: “Cuillin said on that day, when we were driving down the road he said: 'I knew lots of people loved mummy, but I didn't realise this many people did.”