Jo Cox

Jo Cox MP
Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 May 2015
Preceded by	Mike Wood
Majority	6,057 (12.00%)
Personal details
Born	22 June 1974 Batley, England
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Website	Official website

Helen Joanne Cox^[1] (born 22 June 1974) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She is the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Batley and Spen after winning the seat in the 2015 general election.^[2]

Cox was born in Batley and educated at Heckmondwike Grammar School and then Cambridge University, graduating in 1995.^[3][4]

She was head of policy for Oxfam and was an advisor to Sarah Brown and Baroness Kinnock.^[5] She was national chair of Labour Women's Network and a senior advisor to the Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery charity.^[3][4]

Cox was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.^[6] However in the election she voted for the Blairite candidate Liz Kendall,^[7] and announced in May 2016 that she regretted nominating Corbyn.^[8]

In October 2015 she co-authored, with Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, an article in The Observer arguing that British military forces could help achieve an ethical solution to the conflict in Syria.^[9] In the subsequent vote for UK military intervention in Syria she abstained.^[10]

Cox is married and has two children.^[3]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 61230. p. 9119. 18 May 2015.
2. "Batley & Spen Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
3. Martin Shaw (12 May 2014). "Women's campaigner Jo Cox chosen as Labour candidate to fight next General Election in Batley & Spen". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
4. "Jo Cox". The Labour Party. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
5. Hope, Christopher (10 June 2014). "Oxfam: MPs shocked by 'disgraceful' political campaigning". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
6. "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". New Statesman. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
7. Andrew Grice, Oliver Wright (10 September 2015). "Labour moderates plot fightback aimed at regaining control of party in the event of Jeremy Corbyn victory". The Independent. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
8. Jo Cox, Neil Coyle (6 May 2016). "We nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership. Now we regret it". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
9. Mitchell, Andrew and Cox, Jo (11 October 2015). "British forces could help achieve an ethical solution in Syria". The Observer. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
10. Jo Cox (2 December 2015). "With Regret, I Feel I Have No Other Option But to Abstain on Syria". Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 May 2016.