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British Parliament Pays Tribute To Slain Colleague Jo Cox

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Members of the British Parliament returned to London today to pay tribute to a colleague. Jo Cox, the first-term Labour Party member from the north of England, was shot and stabbed to death last week. The MPs had been on recess, many campaigning ahead of this week's referendum on whether to stay in the European Union. Now they were together in the House of Commons.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN BERCOW: Order. Colleagues, we meet today in heartbreaking sadness, but also in heartfelt solidarity.

SIEGEL: That's John Bercow, the speaker of the House. Prime Minister David Cameron spoke of Cox's impact on others.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DAVID CAMERON: Jo Cox was a voice of compassion whose irrepressible spirit and boundless energy lit up the lives of all who knew her.

SIEGEL: Her Labour Party colleague Alison McGovern choked up as she described Cox as a unifying force, citing her maiden speech last year.

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ALISON MCGOVERN: When Jo spoke, Mr. Speaker, we all listened. Why? Because the principle she drew on in that speech and in life is the simple idea that we have more in common than that which divides us.

SIEGEL: After the tributes, a church service was held in Jo Cox's honor.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIEGEL: British politician Jo Cox would have turned 42 on Wednesday.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Prior to his retirement, Robert Siegel was the senior host of NPR's award-winning evening newsmagazine All Things Considered. With 40 years of experience working in radio news, Siegel hosted the country's most-listened-to, afternoon-drive-time news radio program and reported on stories and happenings all over the globe, and reported from a variety of locations across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. He signed off in his final broadcast of All Things Considered on January 5, 2018.