Sister of murdered MP Jo Cox condemns ‘dreadful’ violence after Trump ally shot

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox has condemned the killing of conservative activist and close ally of US President Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk.

Mr Kirk, 31, the co-founder and chief executive of the youth organisation Turning Point USA, was shot at a Utah Valley University show on Wednesday.

Kim Leadbeater, whose sister Jo Cox was killed in 2016 when she was shot and stabbed by a neo-Nazi outside her constituency surgery a week before the 2016 EU referendum, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were among a raft of British leaders to speak out against political violence following the killings.

Ms Leadbeater, who is now a Labour MP in her sister’s former constituency, wrote: “This is dreadful.

“Whatever our political views and differences, there is no place for violence in our politics.

“Tonight two children have lost their Dad. Devastating. We need a global reset on what we want our politics to look like.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir expressed his condolences online, adding: “My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk.

“It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband.

“We must all be free to debate openly and freely without fear – there can be no justification for political violence.”

Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University showed Mr Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans “The American Comeback” and “Prove Me Wrong”, before a single shot was fired.

Stunned spectators were heard gasping and screaming before people started to run away.

As of late Wednesday local time, no one was in custody, according to The Associated Press.

Earlier, officials had given shifting accounts of the manhunt – FBI director Kash Patel initially posted on social media that a “subject” had been detained, but later clarified the person had been released after questioning.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who said she is “deeply shocked” by the killing, added: “Political violence has no place in our societies.

“Our thoughts and condolences are with his family.”

The cross-party calls for tolerance also included Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch describing the killing as “a blow to everything Western civilization stands for”.

She posted online: “There are no words good enough to express the horror of this.

“The killing of Charlie Kirk is a blow to everything Western civilization stands for: open discourse, robust debate and peaceful dissent. He lived his life by those very principles, no matter the danger it put him in.

“This may have happened far from our shores, but the rising intolerance of opposing views affects us all. We cannot turn a blind eye to it.

“My thoughts are with Charlie’s family, his wife Erika, and their children.”

Reform UK  leader Nigel Farage posted a black and white photograph of himself with Mr Kirk, along with the message “this is a very dark day for American democracy”.

He added that he is “desperately sad” for Mr Kirk, his wife and children.

Former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson believes Mr Kirk is now  “a shining new martyr to free speech ”  and described the killing as “a tragedy, and a sign of the utter desperation and cowardice of those who could not defeat him in argument”.

He posted online:  “Charlie Kirk has been killed not for espousing extremist views – because he didn’t.

“He has been killed for saying things that used to be simple common sense. He has been killed because he had the courage to stand up publicly for reasonable opinions held by millions and millions of ordinary people both in the US and Britain. The world has a shining new martyr to free speech.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.”

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey added: “Absolutely horrifying news of Charlie Kirk’s murder. Political violence should have no place in society.

“My prayers are with his family, I can’t imagine the pain they must be going through.”

In a US press conference, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said the attack was a “political assassination” and that “a person of interest is in custody”.

The event was billed as the first stop on Mr Kirk’s “The American Comeback Tour” and had fuelled controversy on the campus.

An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Mr Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures.

The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its “commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue”.