“The prime minister said the nation was rightly shocked at the Batley and Spen MP’s death, adding: “Two children have lost their mother, a husband has lost a loving wife and parliament has lost one of its most passionate and brilliant campaigners.” Cameron told how he first met Cox, a former aid worker, in Darfur, western Sudan, in 2006 where she had been “doing what she was brilliant at, which was looking after and saving the lives of vulnerable refugees”. He said the country “should treasure and value our democracy where members of parliament are out in the public, accountable to the public, available to the public and that’s how Jo died. She died doing her job”.” – The Guardian
>Yesterday: WATCH: Cameron – Parliament has lost one of its most passionate and brilliant campaigners
“A man has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting of Labour MP Jo Cox. West Yorkshire Police said Thomas Mair, 52, has been charged with the murder of the 41-year-old. She was shot and stabbed outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday. Mr Mair will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Saturday and faces a number of other charges, including grievous bodily harm.” – BBC
“Whoever is chosen to represent the Labour party in the Batley & Spen by-election will not face a challenge from the main political parties. The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Ukip have decided not to field a candidate to succeed Jo Cox at Westminster. There has not been an uncontested parliamentary by-election for 62 years, but a Conservative spokesman said that they would leave the path clear for Labour “as a mark of respect to a much-loved and respected politician”. The move was first proposed on Twitter on Thursday night by Grant Shapps, the former Conservative chairman.” – The Times(£)
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Senior Tories: the decision not to contest the Batley and Spen by-election is simply wrong
“I’ve been consistent. Every time some demented soul with a brown skin has gone on a killing spree (poor Fusilier Lee Rigby’s horrific fate in 2013 is a recent example) I’ve doubted the sense of linking deranged minds to whatever cause they settle on. I offer Michael Gove, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and the whole Leave crew, the benefit of the same doubt. Columnists are expected to draw general lessons from particular events. Mourning Jo Cox’s death, I must demur. There are no lessons here, none at all. Only sorrow.” – Matthew Parris The Times(£)
“In October 1984, having narrowly escaped death in the small hours of Saturday morning, Margaret Thatcher spoke exactly as scheduled to her Party Conference in a way which gave the clearest of signals to those who had bombed the Grand Hotel at Brighton. What a contrast with today. In the wake of the murder of Jo Cox,Mr Cameron cancelled an official visit to Gibraltar. The democratic political process of the referendum campaign has been suspended for 24 hours and Parliament is to be recalled on Monday. Sadly it will not recall Jo Cox from the dead.” – Lord Tebbit Daily Telegraph
Other comment
>Yesterday:
“In February, this newspaper ran a letter from several of Britain’s most senior retired military leaders, in favour of a Remain vote…The second most senior signature on that letter was that of Lord Guthrie, the last Chief of the Defence Staff to have run our armed forces in a period of military success…What has changed his mind? It is his anxiety about a growing EU role in defence, leading to a European Army. ‘I think a European Army could damage NATO. It is expensive. It’s unnecessary duplication to have it. It would appeal to some euro vanity thing.’ ” – Charles Moore Daily Telegraph
>Today: ToryDiary: How the referendum will be announced
“A UK exit from the European Union could mean the UK misses out on up to 5.6% of GDP growth by 2019, the IMF has warned. Brexit is the “largest near-term risk” to the UK economy, the IMF said in its annual UK economic outlook. It added that the net economic effects would probably be “negative and substantial”. But the Economists for Brexit campaign said the consensus that a UK exit would be bad for the economy was “based on flawed EU-centric models”.” – BBC
“David Cameron declares today that he will continue as prime minister whether he wins or loses the EU referendum. He urges voters not to blame him if there is a vote for Brexit, even though a number of Tory ministers insist that under those circumstances he must go. In an interview in The Times magazine, he insists that he can withstand pressure from hostile MPs. “I just get on with the job. I have a very clear mandate from the British people to serve as prime minister in a Conservative government, delivering a referendum.” Pushed as to whether he could hang on in the event of Brexit vote, he says: “Yes. I think it’s very important that the individual careers of individual politicians don’t get caught up in this question.” – The Times(£)
“If Mr Cameron wins, he must seize the moment to galvanise other disgruntled allies from Denmark to Dubrovnik for a new assault on waste, red tape and anti-democratic interference. The Germans and the Dutch, among others, are desperate for Britain to remain because they know we can still play a key role in energising change and preventing France from being a hindrance to free market reform….No one should underestimate how tough a task that would be. It may not sound as exhilarating or romantic as a defiant march to Brexit, but it is the better choice for Britain and Europe.” – The Times(£)
“The Parliament whose freedom we would recover needs massive re-equipping for the task. But we have, for one brief moment, recovered the power that has gradually been removed from us. If we vote Leave, we maximise it; if we vote Remain, we throw it away. It is a very serious decision but not, I would argue, such a terribly difficult one. Is there anything in the shape of the modern world which tells us that when we vote to be run by a distant oligarchy, we thrive? Is there anything in our history which tells us that when we vote to govern ourselves, we go wrong?” – Charles Moore Daily Telegraph
Other comment
“He worries that the Tories are stirring up class warfare. “This all seems very old fashioned and backward looking. I thought we had got past the stage when everyone had to be defined and boxed in by their class, their accent and their background, there is so much more fluidity now. There are serious dangers in slipping back into class warfare.” – Interview with Lord Waldegrave The Times(£)
“Bernie Sanders has promised to work with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, but has stopped short of endorsing her. The Vermont senator told his supporters in a speech that it was vital that they stop the Republican candidate, Donald Trump, from winning the White House.” – BBC