Kim Leadbetter

Go, yeah, go do it.

Go on to your next challenge.

And then for the first five years after Jo was killed, I spent time working for the Jo Cox Foundation, the charity that was set up.

And I couldn't go anywhere near politics, partly because it wasn't my world, but obviously mainly because of what it had taken from us.

And Jo was killed because of her political beliefs.

That's an absolute fact.

But then after five years doing that, you know, having watched Joe do the job of an MP and seeing how people-centred it can be and it should be, I thought, well, when the MP that took over from Joe went on to be the Mayor of West Yorkshire,

there was a by-election and a number of people came to me and said, have you thought about it?

Why don't you do it?

And I was initially incredibly dismissive and said, absolutely not.

You know, it's just not for me.

And then I reflected on it and I spoke to my mum and dad.

I spoke to my partner and Joe's kids.

That must have been a hard conversation.

Hard conversations rather to have.

Yeah, difficult conversations.

But,

You know, all mum and dad have ever wanted is for me to be happy and for me to do what I believe is the right thing to do.

And the rest of my family were the same.

And what I did feel was if I don't go for it, I don't want to regret not going for it.