The widower of the murdered MP Jo Cox has told of his surprise at an “outpouring of kindness” on social media after he posted a heartfelt Christmas message.



Brendan Cox is facing his second Christmas without Jo, mother to their two children, Cuillin and Lejla. The extremist Thomas Mair was jailed for life for killing the Labour MP in the days before the Brexit referendum in June 2016.

On Christmas Eve, Cox wrote a message on Twitter, urging people to tell their loved ones how much they mean to them. It rapidly gained traction, racking up more than 12,000 retweets and 31,000 likes.

Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) Wasn’t at all expecting this outpouring of kindness to me or to each other in this thread. A lovely reminder at the end of the year that bad shit happens but the world is still full of good people.

He also retweeted one follower, who had replied to his initial tweet saying: “My wife has just been diagnosed with terminal breast cancer so after reading your post I told her how much I loved her, I had been doing that anyway but your post was a timely reminder not to take anything for granted.”