Brendan Cox spoke to Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan to make a plea to unite the country in the face of an ordeal too horrific to comprehend.
Jo was brutally shot and killed outside her constituency office in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in an act of extreme “hatred” in the midst of the Brexit row which divided the nation.
It’s been almost a year since Jo’s death and now her husband said the pain is still very fresh.
“It still feels very early,” he said. “I think when something like this happens, when it’s so sudden, the shock insulates you from some of that pain over the first few days and weeks, but that fades.”
He added: “At the time, I said I’d do two things: To make sure kids are ok – that they feel protected, that they feel safe – and take on this hatred that killed Jo and bring communities together, so I’m throwing myself into those things.”
After footage of Jo played out on screen, Brendan confessed seeing his wife’s extraordinary smile and spirit brings it all back.
“Whenever I see hear voice or I see her image, it brings a lot of things back,” he explained. “That’s the thing with grief – feel like your on an level keep and then a smell, or picture…”
Brendan blamed the “shrillness” in the political debate on breeding extremism in the United Kingdom.
When Piers suggested Jo’s death was the result of mental instability, Brendan hit back: ”There was no mental instability there, it was hatred.”
Ahead of the first anniversary of Jo’s murder, Brendan is planning an enormous community event to bring thousands of people together across the country, launched by The Jo Cox Foundation.
“Jo was obsessed with loneliness,” Brendan stressed. “People don’t know each other on their street so on the anniversary I thought, ‘how do we remember Jo like Jo?’
“I didn’t want it to be about mourning, I want it to have that energy. The killing of Jo was designed to divide communities, so what better way to respond than bring them together?”
The Great Get Together takes place on the weekend of 17-18 June and is expected to mark the biggest local celebration since the Queen’s diamond Jubilee.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on ITV.
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