:00:14. > :00:16.Hello and welcome to a special edition of Monday in Parliament,
:00:17. > :00:18.as MPs and Peers are recalled to Westminster
:00:19. > :00:28.who was killed in her constituency last week.
:00:29. > :00:31.It was a sombre, solemn day at Westminster as MPs and Peers
:00:32. > :00:36.gathered, still numbed by the news and the nature of Jo Cox's death.
:00:37. > :00:38.The 41-year-old was shot and stabbed to death
:00:39. > :00:44.Since then, there have been a flood of tributes.
:00:45. > :00:47.Flowers have been placed outside Westminster and in her home town
:00:48. > :00:52.and constituency of Batley and Spen, bouquets have been laid by friends,
:00:53. > :00:57.family, politicians and local people in a public outpouring
:00:58. > :01:04.Before we hear the many powerful and moving tributes to Jo Cox,
:01:05. > :01:09.let's look back over her time as an MP.
:01:10. > :01:12.The Labour MP for Batley and Spen arrived in Westminster in May 2015.
:01:13. > :01:15.She served as an MP for 13 months but in that short time,
:01:16. > :01:22.She gave her first speech in the House of Commons
:01:23. > :01:28.The convention is for MPs to talk about their constituencies
:01:29. > :01:32.For Jo Cox, that meant talking about the place
:01:33. > :01:37.It is a joy to represent such a diverse community.
:01:38. > :01:39.Batley Spen is a gathering of typically independent,
:01:40. > :01:45.no-nonsense, proud Yorkshire towns and villages.
:01:46. > :01:47.Our communities have been deeply enhanced by immigration,
:01:48. > :01:50.be it Irish Catholics across the constituency or Muslims
:01:51. > :01:55.from India or Pakistan, principally from Kashmir.
:01:56. > :01:59.And whilst we celebrate our diversity, the thing that
:02:00. > :02:02.surprises me, time and time again, as I travel around the constituency,
:02:03. > :02:05.is that we are far more united and have far more in common
:02:06. > :02:10.Batley is a town that has sent Labour MPs to this place
:02:11. > :02:16.One of those, Dr Broughton, is, of course, famously credited
:02:17. > :02:22.So, I, respectfully, put the right honourable
:02:23. > :02:25.members on the front bench opposite on notice.
:02:26. > :02:36.As the first member of her family to go to university,
:02:37. > :02:38.education was an issue very close to her heart.
:02:39. > :02:41.She led a debate on the need to improve schools in Yorkshire.
:02:42. > :02:43.It is now clear that where you were born has become
:02:44. > :02:45.a more powerful predictive factor of your performance
:02:46. > :02:51.Yorkshire and the Humber are a stark example of this.
:02:52. > :02:54.Tragically, for our children, the region has gone from fifth
:02:55. > :02:59.lowest achieving in the 1970s to the worst in England today,
:03:00. > :03:01.with nearly one quarter of the children attending schools
:03:02. > :03:13.Before becoming an MP, Jo Cox was an aid worker
:03:14. > :03:15.and so she is, perhaps, best known for her campaigning
:03:16. > :03:41.on behalf on Syrian people afflicted by the civil war.
:03:42. > :03:43.We also know that, as that conflict enters
:03:44. > :03:47.Syrian families have been forced to make an impossible decision -
:03:48. > :03:49.stay and face starvation, rape, persecution and death,
:03:50. > :03:51.or make a perilous journey to find sanctuary elsewhere.
:03:52. > :03:53.And who can blame desperate parents for wanting
:03:54. > :03:55.to escape the horrors that their families
:03:56. > :03:58.A reality in which children are being killed on the way
:03:59. > :04:01.to school, where children as young as seven are being recruited
:04:02. > :04:03.for the front line, where children have
:04:04. > :04:05.grown up knowing nothing but fear and war.
:04:06. > :04:07.These children have been exposed to things no child should
:04:08. > :04:16.I know I would personally risk life and limb to get
:04:17. > :04:26.my two precious babies out of that hellhole.
:04:27. > :04:37.The speech in Parliament was last month. She had called for
:04:38. > :04:41.international action with regard to the conflict in Syria.
:04:42. > :04:44.While I am a huge fan of President Obama, and worked
:04:45. > :04:46.with him in North Carolina in 2008, I believe
:04:47. > :04:49.that both President Obama and the Prime Minister made the biggest
:04:50. > :04:50.misjudgements in their time in office
:04:51. > :04:52.when they put Syria on the Too Difficult pile.
:04:53. > :04:55.Instead of engaging fully, they withdrew and put their
:04:56. > :04:58.This judgment, made by both leaders for different reasons, will, I
:04:59. > :05:00.believe, be judged harshly by history.
:05:01. > :05:02.It has been nothing short of a foreign policy disaster.
:05:03. > :05:05.But there is still time for both men to write a
:05:06. > :05:07.postscript to this failure, so does the Minister agree
:05:08. > :05:10.that it is time for the leaders of both our
:05:11. > :05:12.countries, even in the midst of a hotly-contested campaign,
:05:13. > :05:14.to launch a joint, bold initiative to protect civilians,
:05:15. > :05:17.to get aid to besieged communities and for us to throw our
:05:18. > :05:19.weight behind the fragile peace talks before they fail?
:05:20. > :05:21.I don't believe that either President Obama or
:05:22. > :05:23.the Prime Minister tried to do harm in Syria,
:05:24. > :05:26.but as it has been said, sometimes, all it takes for evil
:05:27. > :05:28.to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
:05:29. > :05:31.Jo Cox, making her last speech in the House of Commons in May.
:05:32. > :05:34.And so to those tributes to a widely respected MP.
:05:35. > :05:36.campaigning in the EU referendum on hold.
:05:37. > :05:39.Jo Cox's husband, children and family looked on from the gallery.
:05:40. > :05:41.MPs wore the white rose of Yorkshire,
:05:42. > :05:43.while several women Labour members dressed in purple and green,
:05:44. > :05:47.MPs from all parties packed the chamber to mourn
:05:48. > :05:50.Many cried openly, as the Speaker John Bercow began the tributes.
:05:51. > :05:54.Colleagues, we meet here today in heartbreaking sadness, but
:05:55. > :05:57.Any death in such awful circumstances is an
:05:58. > :06:00.Yet this this death, in this manner, of this person,
:06:01. > :06:02.our democratically-elected colleague, Jo Cox, is particularly
:06:03. > :06:07.The white rose of Yorkshire and the red rose of Labour
:06:08. > :06:09.marked the spot in the Commons where Jo Cox usually sat.
:06:10. > :06:12.The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn spoke next.
:06:13. > :06:15.Jo Cox did not just believe in loving her neighbour.
:06:16. > :06:17.She believed in loving her neighbour's neighbour.
:06:18. > :06:31.She believed every life counted equally.
:06:32. > :06:35.The whole country has been united in grief.
:06:36. > :06:42.And united in rejecting the well of hatred hatred that killed her,
:06:43. > :06:44.in what increasingly appears to have been an act of
:06:45. > :06:49.We are filled with sorrow for her husband Brendan
:06:50. > :06:54.But they can be so proud of everything she was, all she
:06:55. > :07:14.Jo's grieving husband Brendan said, "Jo believed
:07:15. > :07:17.in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life,
:07:18. > :07:22.with an energy and a zest for life which would exhaust most people."
:07:23. > :07:29.And a passion to create a better world.
:07:30. > :07:34.In her honour, Mr Speaker, we recommit ourselves to that task.
:07:35. > :07:44.We are here today to remember an extraordinary colleague
:07:45. > :07:49.Jo Cox was a voice of compassion, whose irrepressible
:07:50. > :07:53.spirit and boundless energy lit up the lives of all who knew her.
:07:54. > :07:59.And she also saved the lives of many she never even met.
:08:00. > :08:05.She was doing what she did so brilliantly - bravely
:08:06. > :08:09.working in one of the most dangerous parts of the world,
:08:10. > :08:13.Her decision to welcome me, then the Conservative
:08:14. > :08:20.Leader of the Opposition, Had not been entirely welcomed by all her
:08:21. > :08:35.But it was typical of her determination on issues that she was
:08:36. > :08:41.keen to cross party claims that she welcomed me. She was a passionate
:08:42. > :08:46.and brilliant campaigner who had the determination to fight for justice
:08:47. > :08:52.saw her driving issues up the agenda and making people listen and act. As
:08:53. > :09:05.the Leader of the Opposition said, this Wednesday would have been her
:09:06. > :09:10.42nd birthday. She should have been celebrating her birthday by hosting
:09:11. > :09:19.her traditional summer solstice party, a remained other behind the
:09:20. > :09:21.professional was a fun loving mother, sister, wife and friends.
:09:22. > :09:25.And then it was over to representatives of other parties
:09:26. > :09:28.and friends on the back benches to pay their tributes, with many
:09:29. > :09:36.heartfelt and emotional stories painting a picture of the MP's life.
:09:37. > :09:42.It is ironic that after travelling the world to some of the most
:09:43. > :09:48.damaging and dangerous places in the world, she died in her constituency.
:09:49. > :09:53.She died in a place that she loved in a place where she loved serving
:09:54. > :09:58.the community. She wanted to live the life that she wanted, but she
:09:59. > :10:09.had so much more that she could've achieved. The constituency will
:10:10. > :10:12.elect a new MP, but we cannot replace her as a mother.
:10:13. > :10:13.A Conservative International Development Secretary
:10:14. > :10:20.got to know her through her former role as an aid worker.
:10:21. > :10:34.Making common cause with the crusty old conservative, we became
:10:35. > :10:40.courtiers of the friends of Syria. We have very invited herself to tea
:10:41. > :10:48.with the Russian ambassador. With charm but steely determination,
:10:49. > :10:56.despite the bundle of Yorkshire common sense, she dressed down for
:10:57. > :10:57.the cynicism in Syria. I do not believe the Russian ambassador will
:10:58. > :11:01.easily forget that visit. Harriet Harman touched
:11:02. > :11:02.on another passion - Jo's work to get more women
:11:03. > :11:04.elected to parliament, and her role as chair
:11:05. > :11:15.of the Labour women's network. Not long after she had her son, she
:11:16. > :11:23.came to give me one of these regular briefings. She did not stop kissing
:11:24. > :11:27.him all the way through the meeting. She was still the for all the women
:11:28. > :11:29.who were still trying to become candidates.
:11:30. > :11:31.Another friend said, like a lot of MPs,
:11:32. > :11:53.I remember her and her cycling kit, leaving others are wondering where
:11:54. > :11:59.she got the energy. I remember her capturing the moment of horror
:12:00. > :12:03.becoming a new MP, with one of children the shoot in the river.
:12:04. > :12:07.She quoted another Labour MP, Anna Turley.
:12:08. > :12:16.Burning brightly and lighting up the night, giving sparks of positive
:12:17. > :12:22.energy for over she went. Mr Speaker, she was the heart and soul
:12:23. > :12:31.of these benches and we are heartbroken. We will miss her every
:12:32. > :12:33.day. We will do everything in our power to make her family incredibly
:12:34. > :12:35.proud. An SNP MP had worked
:12:36. > :12:43.with her at the charity Oxfam. She was connected to her Yorkshire
:12:44. > :12:48.roots. She was proud of where she was from, but no conviction between
:12:49. > :12:52.that and caring about the lives of people on the other side of the
:12:53. > :12:59.world. We often witnessed that in Parliament as well, where she fought
:13:00. > :13:03.for refugee children fleeing Syria, and people in her own constituency
:13:04. > :13:07.growing up in poverty. It was those deep, strong roots in our own
:13:08. > :13:11.Yorkshire community that allowed her to branch out arms around the world
:13:12. > :13:18.and show much love. I was or is a bit envious. She was energetic,
:13:19. > :13:21.brave, dynamic, fit, beautiful, passionate. I cannot ever recall
:13:22. > :13:27.seeing her sad, negative or without hope. She once told me, in a
:13:28. > :13:32.one-to-one meeting at Oxfam, she did not do touch-feely and I was being
:13:33. > :13:36.too emotional, and we needed to get on with it.
:13:37. > :13:38.LAUGHTER We needed to sort out the campaign
:13:39. > :13:39.we were working on. Another friend spoke of her work
:13:40. > :13:48.to get women elected to Parliament. She did it not by hectoring or
:13:49. > :13:53.lecturing, but by believing in the goodness of others. As our friend
:13:54. > :13:59.has written, half holding you are bright, half showing you forward.
:14:00. > :14:03.That was what it meant to have her arm around your shoulder. And how we
:14:04. > :14:08.long for those arms around our shoulder today. For one more hard.
:14:09. > :14:12.And definitely for one more smile. -- for one more hug.
:14:13. > :14:14.As we've been hearing, Jo Cox will be remembered
:14:15. > :14:17.not just at Westminster but by communities around the world.
:14:18. > :14:19.The Northern Ireland Assembly began its working week
:14:20. > :14:22.The First Minister, Arlene Foster, led the way, describing this
:14:23. > :14:29.as a very sad day for politics in the United Kingdom.
:14:30. > :14:36.Let us remember the words of President Kennedy, that civility is
:14:37. > :14:41.not a sign of weakness, and that this drivel I don't can bring a new
:14:42. > :14:51.civility to politics. Not just for a few days, but can be seen to make a
:14:52. > :14:55.new start to how politics is done. Let it inspire all of us, to insure
:14:56. > :14:58.the, what we have come through, during the course of the conflict
:14:59. > :15:04.here, that we continue to work together as a positive and
:15:05. > :15:10.constructive spirit, and as a spirit of generosity with each other to
:15:11. > :15:14.insure we continue to move forward, and be an example, as we have been
:15:15. > :15:20.to many other conflicts throughout the world, in relation to the
:15:21. > :15:24.resolution of conflict. As well as an personal and family tragedy, it
:15:25. > :15:37.was an attack on democracy, and it would be remiss to remember -- not
:15:38. > :15:46.to remember... Jo Cox was the first female MP to be murdered. The
:15:47. > :15:51.Northern Irish MP was murdered in 1981. He was serving his
:15:52. > :15:57.constituents, holding a surgery in a community centre in Belfast. He was
:15:58. > :16:01.gunned down, along with a council worker, I believe, a worker from
:16:02. > :16:07.that community centre, also murdered on a very black day. I think the
:16:08. > :16:12.best legacy she could ever have hoped to leave would be a whole new
:16:13. > :16:15.generation of people inspired to care about the campaign for the
:16:16. > :16:17.rights of the downtrodden. Back at Westminster,
:16:18. > :16:19.and in the House of Lords, Jo Cox was described as an "angel",
:16:20. > :16:24.exceptional, a unique talent. But as peers mourned her death
:16:25. > :16:27.there was anger too at the "vitriol and violence" some feared
:16:28. > :16:40.was contaminating public life. Marking her death a tragic and
:16:41. > :16:45.unfair as it is, present at least one opportunity for the sake of good
:16:46. > :16:51.democracy, and it is this. For those of us who know how hard MPs work to
:16:52. > :16:57.raise awareness of their commitment to the people they represent. Our
:16:58. > :17:00.democracy will be seriously undermined and weekend if this
:17:01. > :17:04.outrage stops our brightest and our best from stepping forward into
:17:05. > :17:09.public life. When good people of passion and principal tell their
:17:10. > :17:11.family and their friends they want to be a counsellor or member of
:17:12. > :17:19.Parliament I want their families to be proud of them, not to fear for
:17:20. > :17:22.them. Yet the level of vitriol and violence contaminating our public
:17:23. > :17:29.and political life will deter some of the best people that we need the
:17:30. > :17:34.most. We pray that she will rest in peace, and her family will find
:17:35. > :17:39.peace. I pray that Birstall will be remembered more with the manner of
:17:40. > :17:44.her living than with the manner of her dying. As we look to the future,
:17:45. > :17:51.from these benches, we would say with confidence that death, violence
:17:52. > :17:53.and destruction cannot and will not have the final word.
:17:54. > :17:55.The Labour peer, Lady Kinnock, is a former MEP.
:17:56. > :17:58.Jo Cox had worked for her at the European Parliament
:17:59. > :18:05.She said their close friendship had enriched her life.
:18:06. > :18:13.Happily, she was no saint. She was mischievous, Merry, irreverent, as
:18:14. > :18:19.well as focused, determined, resilient and brave. My Lords, I
:18:20. > :18:24.feel cheated by the loss of this precious, valiant young woman. Our
:18:25. > :18:29.country and our world has been robbed of a unique talent, a glowing
:18:30. > :18:33.spirit of progress, enlightenment and emancipation was up I was not
:18:34. > :18:44.sure whether I should speak today, unlike others, I only knew to know
:18:45. > :18:58.her -- only grew to know her in the last year. They are to be shocked at
:18:59. > :19:00.the waste of the lovely, warm, vibrant, effective, honest and
:19:01. > :19:10.special politician who belonged to the people of Batley and Spen, and
:19:11. > :19:12.the worry, what have we done to create a world where this can
:19:13. > :19:13.happen? A Lib Dem had been due
:19:14. > :19:26.to meet Jo Cox on Thursday. An awful, barbaric attack on her.
:19:27. > :19:35.The huge, overwhelming sense of loss of a special person whose life was
:19:36. > :19:44.so brutally cut short. And, yes, a sense of anger that our democracy
:19:45. > :19:46.had been violently this matched. We talked a little about the starving
:19:47. > :19:52.in the Syrian cities, we talked about how we could make politics
:19:53. > :19:57.more sensible, and how we could deliver on her passion, expressed in
:19:58. > :20:06.her maiden speech to celebrate diversity. She insisted that I sent
:20:07. > :20:10.her a poem, which she was the be moved by. She insisted I send it to
:20:11. > :20:20.her. I confess, I forgot. I will quote it now, I think it sums up the
:20:21. > :20:24.life cut too tragically short but lived text ordinarily well. It goes
:20:25. > :20:31.like this. We are all the more one because we are many. We have left an
:20:32. > :20:38.ample space for love in the gap where we were sundered. Our unlike
:20:39. > :20:43.this shines with a radiance of a common creation, like mountain peaks
:20:44. > :20:46.in the morning sun. Those were the values for which she lived her life
:20:47. > :20:51.of those were the values for which may have died. If we are able to do
:20:52. > :20:56.our best to lives of those values, our politics will be better, how
:20:57. > :21:00.nation for successful, and our civilisation far more secure.
:21:01. > :21:02.The former Labour leader and European Commissioner,
:21:03. > :21:04.Neil Kinnock, brought the tributes to a close,
:21:05. > :21:07.saying when he'd heard of her death he'd felt misery and hatred.
:21:08. > :21:17.Then I realised that my outrage was the useless. Not for the first time,
:21:18. > :21:27.I recognised that hate cannot be beaten with hatred. Jo Cox will have
:21:28. > :21:32.said, do not hate in my name. She might even have quoted Gandhi, an
:21:33. > :21:35.aye for an aye makes the whole world blind.
:21:36. > :21:37.Well, we heard there from Glenys and Neil Kinnock.
:21:38. > :21:39.Their son, Stephen, became an MP in 2015,
:21:40. > :21:44.Having known each other for years, the pair shared an office.
:21:45. > :21:52.So let's go back to the Commons for one last tribute from him.
:21:53. > :21:58.Joe used to use my cupboard as a wardrobe. I will never forget her
:21:59. > :22:01.dashing around in her cycling gear, grabbing her clothes and shouting
:22:02. > :22:05.something over her shoulder about her latest project for campaign. She
:22:06. > :22:10.often brought her lovely children into the office with her and if I
:22:11. > :22:14.was lucky, I would get a dinosaur drawing or a chance to read them a
:22:15. > :22:18.story. They are wonderful kids who are truly bathed in love. Mr
:22:19. > :22:23.Speaker, the fearless Jo Cox never stopped fighting for what is right.
:22:24. > :22:28.She gave voice to the voiceless, she spoke truth to power. She exhibit
:22:29. > :22:35.five the best values about party and our country. Compassion, community,
:22:36. > :22:40.solidarity and internationalism. She put her convictions to work for
:22:41. > :22:45.everyone she touched. For the people of Batley and Spen, for the wretched
:22:46. > :22:48.of Syria, were victims of violence and injustice everywhere. She
:22:49. > :22:53.understood that rhetoric has consequences. When insecurity, fear
:22:54. > :22:59.and anger are used to light the fuse, then an explosion is
:23:00. > :23:02.inevitable. In the deeply moving tribute Brendan Cox made last
:23:03. > :23:07.Thursday, he urged the British people to unite and fight against
:23:08. > :23:10.the hatred that killed her. It is the politics of division and fear,
:23:11. > :23:15.the harking back to in century slogans and the rhetoric of Britain
:23:16. > :23:21.first that twists patriotism from love of country into an ugly
:23:22. > :23:25.loathing of others. Mr Speaker, we must now stand up for something
:23:26. > :23:33.better because of someone better. In the name of Jo Cox and all that is
:23:34. > :23:37.decent, we must not let this atrocity harm all that is the Saint.
:23:38. > :23:44.We must build a respectful and united country because this is a
:23:45. > :23:49.time to build the legacy of the Yorkshire lass who devoted her life
:23:50. > :23:53.to the common good and who was so cruelly taken away from us in the
:23:54. > :23:55.prime of her life to stop Jo Cox, we love you, we salute you, and we
:23:56. > :23:57.shall never forget you. Well, when MPs' tributes were over,
:23:58. > :24:00.members of the Commons filed out of the chamber to a rare
:24:01. > :24:04.and sustained round of applause. They were leaving to attend
:24:05. > :24:07.a service of memorial at the neighbouring
:24:08. > :24:08.church of St Margarets where, together with Peers,
:24:09. > :24:11.they joined in a service There were words from the Archbishop
:24:12. > :24:16.of Canterbury, Justin Welby, reflecting on what the many
:24:17. > :24:21.and varied tributes revealed. There was a poetry reading
:24:22. > :24:23.from Glenys Kinnock, who we saw earlier,
:24:24. > :24:28.who had been a close friend. There was a reading
:24:29. > :24:30.from the Book of Deuteronomy from the Commons
:24:31. > :24:33.Speaker, John Bercow. The Commons Chaplain, Rose Hudson
:24:34. > :24:50.Wilkin took up the service. For all of us, of faith or no faith,
:24:51. > :24:57.of whatever creed or culture, whatever is true, whatever is
:24:58. > :25:03.honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, what ever is
:25:04. > :25:10.pleasing, what ever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if
:25:11. > :25:18.there is anything worthy of praise, think on these things. Keep on doing
:25:19. > :25:28.the things that you have learned and received from Jo Cox, and the Art of
:25:29. > :25:31.peace will be with you. -- and the God of peaceful.
:25:32. > :25:34.The Commons Chaplain with the final word of tribute to Jo Cox.
:25:35. > :25:38.And we leave you with MPs and Peers raising their voices in song