I wasn't sure whether to write this blog or not. And in fact a Methodist colleague has shared something similar on line already. But for some reason I felt the urge to write something as a tribute to Jo Cox MP murdered on 16th June 2016.
Until the afternoon of 16th June 2016 I must admit I’d never heard of Jo Cox MP. There I’ve said it. Until Thursday 17th June 2016 for me and most of the country (apart from her constituents and the “Westminster Village”) she was just one of the few hundred MPs sat on the back benches behind Jeremy Corbyn.
But from what we have heard, and seen, and read, over the last 24 hours, she was clearly highly thought of in her constituency and at Westminster.
I’m always slightly wary when MPs unite to praise one of their colleagues who has died. I can’t help thinking of the “Not the 9 o’clock news” satire show of the early 1980s which showed a sketch of two MPs being interviewed. They both were ripping in to each other and their respective parties. Then suddenly one dies and immediately the remaining MP goes into rapture over what a marvellous man he was. “He will be sadly missed.”
And yet with Jo Cox the praise seemed genuine. She clearly was highly thought of by her own party and by the Conservative party. She really will be sadly missed.
Considering I didn’t know her, and as I’ve said had never heard of her, when I learned that she’d died I was shocked. It wasn’t just the fact that she was young. It wasn’t just the fact that she left a husband and two children. (Sadly in a world where we hear most weeks of murders one becomes desensitised.) No, what shocked me was that an MP should be attacked in this way. And, although we perhaps need to take some of the news story with a pinch of salt, I was shocked that the man accused of her murder seems to have been connected with the extreme right.
In fact, shocked is the wrong word. “Sickened” is a better word. I was sickened by the attack.
Like many people I’ve become weary of the EU referendum. I’m firmly in the remain camp. But both sides from the start of the campaign have thrown mud and smears and accusations. It has seemed far nastier than a General Election campaign. And throughout the issue has been immigration. With Leave wanting to emphasise (as they see it) the large numbers of immigrants coming to this country. Whilst Remain have tried to avoid the discussion and tried to focus on the economic benefits of staying the economic pitfalls if we leave.
But immigration has been the topic people have focused on. It is as if the Leave campaign started to chip away at the dam holding back a huge wave of public feeling opposing immigration. And no matter how Remain have voiced arguments showing the positives of immigration, that message has been lost.
I wrote a blog a week or so ago expressing the hope that as Christians we should see the need to build bridges rather than put up fences. I feel my hope is unfounded when I’ve seen discussions amongst Christians on social media that would be worthy of the UKIP annual conference.
My mood wasn’t helped by a recent drive through north Wiltshire and Gloucestershire with “Vote Leave” placards everywhere. And the UKIP one that makes my blood boil “We want our country back!” Well it’s my country too and I like it as it is thank you!
But then this morning I heard an interview with an 18-year-old young man from Jo Cox’s constituency. From his name he is of Asian heritage. He had attended a prayer vigil in the parish church St Peter's Birstall. He was interviewed for BBC Radio 4 Today programme. He explained that he knew Jo Cox. He had met her when she was canvassing for the General Election. She’d got him interested in politics, he’d joined the Labour Party and since become a local councillor.
This young man was clearly close to tears. Hardly surprising given that a close friend has just died. What a legacy she’s left if she had made a difference to just one life. But in fact through her campaigning on the Syrian refugee crisis alone she has made a difference to countless others.
The death of Jo Cox has left me feeling angry and disgusted by what our country is becoming. But anger and disgust alone won’t change anything. I suspect that Jo Cox understood that. No doubt she was angry at the injustices in this country and around the world. According to the Bishop of Huddersfield “She was a woman of passion and a woman of compassion”
But she didn’t sit back. Jo Cox’s husband Brendon said of her last night:
“She believed in a better world. And she fought for it every day.”
Fitting tributes from two people who knew Jo Cox well.
I suspect in years to come some who knew Jo Cox well will be playing the game of “What if”. A game it seems often played about Labour politicians of passion and compassion (consider John Smith MP) who died before their time. That is a fruitless exercise. But it is a more realistic aim to wonder “What will be her legacy?”
I hope her legacy will be that the people of Batley will become more engaged with the political process as love it loath it, it’s all we’ve got. (Certainly the young man of Asian heritage is already part of that legacy.) And I hope that on a wider scale the people of this country will move away from the finger pointing and find common ground. Common ground where we all seek to love one another and our neighbours as ourselves. A common ground of building bridges not fences.
As I said at the start I did not know Jo Cox and I have no idea what she was like other than the bits and pieces said by constituents on the news. Nevertheless, I think that Pope Francis may have provided the yardstick by which she will be judged in future years:
Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: 'Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?' If you don't ask those questions, your governance will not be good.
A prayer
Almighty God, in whose prophets through the ages
we have seen your truth clearly outlined,
we pray for people of vision in our day
those who carry undimmed
the light of the longing for justice
those who speak in the councils of nations
to persuade and convince
those who lead and support in action groups,
political parties and networks
those who resist blind power and risk persecution
to show a new way. Amen
From The Pattern of our Days edited by Kathy Galloway. The Iona Community 1996
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