Jess Phillips MP on remembering Jo Cox and speaking truth to power

Jess Phillips is the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley and the author of Truth to Power and Everywoman. When she’s not standing up in the House of Commons, calling out the prime minister for playing “bully-boy games” during Brexit votes, she’s shedding light on the reality of being a woman in politics. That reality is pretty terrifying. She receives death and rape threats every day of her life. And one night received 600 rape threats in one night. She has panic alarms installed in her home and office.

On 16 June 2016, Phillips’s friend, the MP Jo Cox, was assassinated by a far-right terrorist in her constituency. We spoke to Phillips about Jo Cox, and how she should be remembered. In this episode, Phillips talks about her admiration for Annie Kenney, the working-class suffragette and socialist feminist. She also discusses the lessons we can learn from Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese journalist and anti-corruption activist who was murdered in October 2017. Phillips also pays tribute to the activists behind Ireland's Repeal The 8th campaign to legalise abortion.

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Special thanks to Jess Phillips MP, Midas PR, and Octopus Books.

Credits:

Host and creator: Rachel Thompson

Producers: Maria Dermentzi and Nikolay Nikolov

Editor: Shannon Connellan

Music: Christianne Straker

Illustration: Vicky Leta

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