'I was thrust into world of politics after my sister's death' MP Kim Leadbeater on coping after Jo Cox's death
Jo Cox’s sister speaks to the YEP ahead of the tenth anniversary of her death - Kim Leadbeater MP talks about how she was thrust into the world of politics after Jo’s death and the importance of serving her community
June 16, 2016 will always be a day that Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater struggles to comprehend.
It was the day her beloved sister Jo Cox was cruelly snatched away from her family in the most tragic of circumstances. She was killed while serving the community she loved and adored.
But Kim was determined to ensure that her sister’s legacy in the world of politics lived on.
And over the last five years she has followed in her sister’s footsteps down the corridors of power in Westminster representing that very same constituency that meant so much to Jo.
In an emotional interview, Kim said: “I had absolutely no desire to get involved in politics. Why would I want to enter a world which had essentially taken my sister from me? ”
Kim had built a career working in education, sport, fitness, health and wellbeing. But, as her sister would regularly say to her, “we need good people in politics”.
And that is what Kim was determined to ensure as she was thrust into the political sphere.
“And if good people don’t step up, then where does that leave us?” Kim, who worked with the charity founded in her sister’s name after she was killed, asked. “I had also learnt from watching Jo do the job as our MP, and then the experience I had working in the Jo Cox Foundation, the importance of politics to make a difference to people’s lives.”
So when the seat for Batley and Spen became available, Kim, perhaps reluctantly, threw her hat into the ring.
She said: “When the seat became available, as a resident and as a constituent of Batley and Spen, I did not want somebody who did not understand our area, who did not care about our area. I didn’t want that for Batley and Spen.
“And indeed, in that by-election, there were 15 candidates and I was the only one that lived in the local area. And that really mattered to me. It was an extremely difficult decision, and not one that I particularly embraced, but those are the reasons I chose to do it.
“I think it’s probably not accurate to say that I enjoy being an MP. I do it because I believe it is the right thing to do and an extremely privileged position.
“It does give you a certain amount of power to try and change things for the better and that is the bit I feel most strongly about.”
As a coping mechanism since the awful tragedy, Kim revealed she has been “going at 100 miles per hour since that day.”
“It has also been a way of ensuring that out of the most horrific incident and circumstances as much positive energy has been created as possible in Jo’s name,” the MP said.
She also looks at milestones and anniversaries but admitted she had not properly grieved.
Kim said: “The first thing was to get through the trial, which we did, then it was about getting to a year without collapsing in a heap. Then it became two years, then it became five years, and then it became ten years.
“I think it’s fair to say that I have not processed what happened, I haven’t grieved and part of that is because I haven’t stopped, I have just kept going. I think grief is a really personal thing. We all lose people that we love under a wide variety of different circumstances. I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to deal with that.
“Obviously because of the magnitude of what happened to Jo in terms of the horrific nature of the crime, her public role, and the fact that it resonated not just across the community or the country but indeed around the world, all those different layers made it extremely intense for us as a family but I know that haven’t really processed what happened.”
What does the future hold for Kim in Westminster?
“I am slightly apprehensive about how I will feel once I have got through the business and craziness of June, which is busy and crazy in a very positive way because we have got so many amazing events taking place, locally and nationally,” she revealed.
“But in terms of where the job goes, I genuinely don’t know. It is exhausting. For me it is also extremely emotionally loaded because of how I got the job, so how sustainable that is and for how long, I am not entirely sure, but I will keep going for as long as I feel able.”