EXCLUSIVE: ‘We’re delighted for them!’ Parents of Jo Cox widower’s new fiancée say they can’t wait for the wedding after he announced his engagement to violence against women campaigner – seven years after his MP wife was murdered
- Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right extremist in 2016
- Her widower Brendan Cox revealed he is to tie the knot with Anna Ryder, 37
Plans by Jo Cox’s widower to remarry seven years after her death have been given a blessing – by his new fiancée’s family.
Brendan Cox, whose Labour MP wife was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right extremist while she met constituents in 2016, revealed yesterday he is to tie the knot with new partner Anna Ryder, 37.
Today the news was welcomed by Ms Ryder’s parents, with her mother Anne saying: ‘We are delighted for them and very much looking forward to the wedding.’
Mrs Ryder, speaking at the detached home south of Birmingham she shares with husband Bob, added: ‘We don’t know when it’s going to be yet because it has only just been announced but it’s good news. We are very pleased.’
Mrs Ryder’s daughter Anna is a director of the Killed Women’s network that aids bereaved families of women and girls.
Plans by Jo Cox’s widower Brendan Cox (left) to remarry seven years after her death have been given a blessing – by his new fiancée Anna Ryder’s (right) family
Labour MP Jo Cox (pictured) was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right extremist in 2016
Announcing the engagement yesterday Mr Cox revealed that his own children, by Jo Cox, were ‘excited’ when he broke the news and responded by telling him: ‘You’re never going to do any better’.
The couple are believed to have met two years ago through a mutual friend and are reportedly planning a woodland ceremony in Herefordshire, which Brendan said they are ‘both very much looking forward to celebrating with our families’.
Talking to ITV’s This Morning programme yesterday, Brendan, 44, said his children Cuillin, 12, and Lejla, 10, were delighted at the news as he admitted he ‘never thought’ he would again find love after Jo’s horrific killing.
Congratulating him on his engagement to Ms Ryder, This Morning host Lorraine Kelly added: ‘Jo wouldn’t have wanted you to be on your own.’
Brendan said: ‘No, actually before Jo died, a friend of ours tragically lost their husband and we talked about it at the time about what we would do if one of us ever died. And we were both of the view that… we should get married next week.
‘I always knew that she would want that. But I never thought it would happen because when you lose someone like Jo you never think you’ll find somebody with the energy and the love and the enthusiasm and the excitement that Jo had. I’m incredibly lucky that I have.’
Speaking of his children, he added: ‘They’re on really good form. In fact before I asked Anna to marry me, I said “I’m thinking about asking Anna to marry me what do you think?”.
‘I think their response was “you’re never going to do any better than Anna” which I think was supposed to be a nice thing and a compliment. But they’re very excited about it.’
Anne Ryder (right) with her daughter Annie Ryder (left) who said she is ‘delighted’ for her daughter to be getting married
Brendan and Anna (pictured on holiday) are reportedly planning a woodland ceremony in Herefordshire
Brendan’s wider family is also understood to be supportive of his plans.
Jo and Brendan married in 2009 and their children were aged just five and three at the time of her death.
Jo was shot and stabbed by extremist Thomas Mair as she attended her Batley and Spen constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire during the referendum on EU membership in June 2016. White supremacist Mair was jailed for life for murdering her later that year.
Since her tragic death, Brendan founded the Together Coalition and has worked to support survivors of terror attacks while also raising their children.
The Jo Cox Foundation was also set up in his wife’s memory, which works to spread the MP’s message of unity from her maiden speech in Parliament where she said: ‘We have more in common than that which divides us’.
Speaking after his wife’s killer was convicted, Mr Cox said: ‘We feel nothing but pity for him that his life was so devoid of love and filled with hatred, his only way of finding meaning was to attack a woman who represented all that was good about the country in an act of supreme cowardice.’
Mrs Cox’s sister Kim said of her family: ‘Whilst we can’t change what’s happened, we can try and chose how we respond – I for one will not be beaten. It’s the last thing my sister would have wanted. As a family we will respond with strength, love and positivity.’
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