A far-right party has announced it will contest the by-election caused by Jo Cox’s death
Former member of the BNP Jack Buckby has caused outrage because of his decision to stand
A FAR-RIGHT party has sparked outrage by announcing it will contest the by-election caused by the death of Jo Cox.
Liberty GB says the murder of mother-of-two Mrs Cox is tragic but it cannot allow Labour to retake the constituency of Batley and Spen, West Yorkshire, unchallenged.
Instead it is putting up a candidate called Jack Buckby, the party's press officer who used to be a member of the BNP.
He announced that he would be standing in a video posted on Facebook video claiming "the Labour Party has blood on its hands".
He added: "The constituency is part of a region that has been turned upside-down by mass immigration, with mosques sprouting like triffids, Islamic extremism proliferating, child-rape gangs still on the loose, and long-standing English communities under threat of demographic eradication."
This comes after the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and Ukip all said they wouldn’t contest the safe Labour seat in tribute to Jo.
A Tory spokesman said giving Labour a free run at holding the seat would be “a mark of respect to a much-loved and respected politician”.
But instead of respecting the campaigner who was gunned down and stabbed on Thursday afternoon, Liberty GB announced its decision within hours of Mrs Cox’s family visiting the site where she was killed.
At the scene in Birstall yesterday afternoon Jo’s younger sister Kim Leadbeater, 40, fought back tears as she gave a poignant, five-minute speech.
Standing before crowds and floral tributes in the village square — near where the Batley and Spen MP was murdered — Kim told how her family was broken, but would mend.
She said: “There are some things in life you should never have to do.
“Last night I had to go and identify my sister’s body.
“Yes, this was Jo Cox MP and she was many things to many people in her too-short life but she was my sister, my only sibling, my parents’ first-born child, a wife and a mum.”
Kim said she, her partner and parents were not used to being in the public eye. But they felt compelled to speak due to the “overwhelming outpouring of grief, sympathy and love” from around the world.
She added: “We want to say a most sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has expressed their love and affection for Jo and sent their thoughts and sympathy to us.
“It has genuinely made a difference and helped us through some dark times in the last 48 hours.
“From a very young age all Jo wanted was for everybody to be happy.
“We were brought up to see the positive in everything.
“Our parents instilled in us a real glass-half-full mentality and whilst I sometimes tend to add a large measure of Yorkshire cynicism to this, Jo generally did not.
“She only saw the good.
“When she would get abuse on Facebook or Twitter we would talk and sometimes cry together but she would still focus on the positive.”
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Referring to her sister’s “strength and solidarity”, Kim added: “We have to continue this in the days, months and years to come.
“It is part of Jo’s legacy.
“For now our family is broken but we will mend over time and never let Jo leave our lives.
“She will live on for all the good people in the world, through (her husband) Brendan, through us, and through her truly wonderful children who will always know what an utterly amazing woman their mother was.
“She was a human being.
“She was perfect.”
Political friends of her heartbroken husband, Brendan Cox, hope he will stand as an MP in the seat she held.
A date for the by-election has not yet been set.
The 37-year-old former Labour special adviser who once worked in No10 has been an activist since his student days.
Mr Cox also won huge plaudits for his moving statement honouring his wife and calling for Britain to reject hate just a few hours after her death.
And minutes after his sister-in-law’s speech he Cox tweeted: “Very proud of my sister in law Kim who spoke on behalf of us all and did her sister proud #MoreInCommon.”
A by-election to pick Jo Cox’s successor for the West Yorks constituency is likely to be held either next month or in September after the summer holidays.
People on social media are disgusted at Liberty GB's decision.
Yesterday morning Tommy Mair appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with the MP's murder, with possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon - a knife.
He is also charged with causing grievous bodily harm to Bernard Carter-Kenny, 77, who was also allegedly attacked at the same time by Mair.
When asked his name he responded: "death to traitors, freedom for Britain".
He was remanded in custody to appear at London's Old Bailey tomorrow.