The torchbearer: Jo Cox Foundation CEO Su Moore on civility and making a difference

x Sponsored content on Research Live and in Impact magazine is editorially independent.
Find out more about advertising and sponsorship.

In June, it will be eight years since Jo Cox, Labour MP for Batley and Spen, was murdered by a far-right extremist outside Birstall library in West Yorkshire, where she was due to meet constituents. She had been a member of parliament for just over a year, but her insistence – in her powerful maiden speech – that “we have far more in common than that which divides us” remains a clarion call for unity and tolerance in British life.

Cox’s parliamentary career was cut tragically short, but her energy and determination to tackle the causes of prejudice and discrimination resonated (and continue to resonate) across political divides: by 20 June 2016, just four days after she died, a fund established by her friends in her memory had raised £1m, to be distributed among causes close to her heart.

Incredibly, what was intended to be a ‘spend out’ organisation – it wouldn’t exist in the long term – continues to enjoy a profile and wield an influence, at home and abroad, that belies its size: it numbers just 15 people. Su Moore, chief executive of The Jo Cox Foundation since January 2021, says the reason the charity punches above its weight is “one hundred per cent, without a doubt” Cox’s legacy. “More than any other organisation I’ve worked in, including the Olympics, this is the place where I can pretty much guarantee that, if I drop an email to someone requesting a meeting or a phone call, they will say yes.”

Being the torchbearer for such a potent legacy organisation requires determination, diplomacy and sensitivity. The year Moore spent as director, stronger communities, at The Jo Cox Foundation, before stepping up to the chief executive role, was, she says, helpful in understanding “the sensitivities and nuances involved”.

She never met Cox, but most of the trustee board members were friends and colleagues of the late MP, and Moore and her team still work closely with Cox’s parents, husband and sister, Kim Leadbeater, who resigned her formal role as ambassador for the foundation when she herself became MP for Batley and Spen in 2021.

“When we embarked on our new three-year strategic cycle in 2023, one of the key things we wanted to define was what we mean by being ‘a legacy organisation’,” says Moore, who is acutely aware of the need to make the foundation sustainable, given that the time may come when memories of Cox fade. “We wrote down with absolute clarity that we want to make a difference on some of the issues Jo was passionate about – principally, nurturing stronger communities, championing respect in politics, and advocating for a fairer world – but also to focus on areas where we can make a difference and others can’t. But we do not try to second-guess what Jo would have done or said were she alive, though we are often asked.”

The foundation is best known for its work on combating loneliness, not least the annual ‘Great Get Together’ of community events across the UK – but it is the Jo Cox Civility Commission report, published in January of this year, that could define Moore’s time at the helm.

The report, which makes 28 recommendations to improve civility in public life, couldn’t be more timely. A general election is set to take place this year, and the abuse and intimidation of politicians, which the report calls ‘one of the biggest threats to democracy in the UK’, is a worsening problem.

Moore was closely involved in researching and writing the report, which is the culmination of nearly a year’s work and involved engaging with more than 100 stakeholders, including current and former politicians, experts on representative democracy, security and justice organisations, and expert bodies, such as the Electoral Commission. In addition to face-to-face interviews, she and her team drew on existing research, including from organisations that work closely with the public. Moore says the report, which represents views from across the political spectrum, is one of the two things of which she is most proud in her three-year tenure (the other being safeguarding the wellbeing of her staff). Asked what she would like to achieve over the next three years, she is clear: “All 28 recommendations to be implemented.”

Motivated by “finding something that is genuinely fascinating and that makes me want to get out of bed in the morning”, Moore says her current role is by far the most fulfilling of any she has had.

She arrived at The Jo Cox Foundation via a circuitous route. After a degree in war studies and history at King’s College London (her specialism was naval history), she worked at the Tate and the National Maritime Museum before becoming commercial director, and then acting festival director, at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. After that, she landed a plum role as stakeholder engagement lead at the London 2012 Summer Olympics (“an incredible experience”), subsequently becoming head of development at the British Council.

Then, she was headhunted to the role of foundation director of the British Ski and Snowboard National Foundation, though she’d never skied or snowboarded in her life, taking on an additional role at GB Snowsport. “My friends, who’d been trying to persuade me to go skiing with them for years, thought it was a bit of a joke, but what attracted me to the job was the opportunity to start a charity from scratch,” she says.

Immediately before she joined The Jo Cox Foundation, Moore took a six-month sabbatical, hiking and climbing in the Pyrenees and improving her French.

“I think you should do things you find interesting, and that might sometimes mean taking a step back,” she says. “I’ve never been focused on trying to climb the career ladder.”

Clarion call

Cox is not the only politician to have lost their life in the course of their duties: Conservative MP Sir David Amess was killed while holding a surgery in his Southend constituency in 2021. The Civility Commission report highlights the prevalence and severity of the attacks on, and threats to, national and local politicians, their families and their property. Abuse ranges from stalking and slander, to rape and death threats, and arson – and is a major reason many MPs say they plan to stand down at the next election.

“The abuse is getting worse,” observes Moore. “Social media is a conduit: people can send abuse to their elected representatives, they can egg each other on, find and spread misinformation and disinformation, and you get a ‘pile on’ effect.”

The Jo Cox Civility Commission is calling on Ofcom to specifically consider the experiences of elected politicians as part of its regulatory duties, and for all social media companies to extend the kind of support already provided by some, including Meta, to national and local politicians – by, for example, making it easier to report and take down misinformation and disinformation.

However, perhaps a bigger factor than social media, suggests Moore, is the impact of the past decade in UK politics, characterised by some of the big ‘yes/no’ issues, such as the Scottish independence and EU referendums, which have pushed people to take sides. “And issues around Covid, including ‘partygate’, have eroded trust,” she adds. “It’s a perfect storm.”

Polling by the Electoral Commission after the May 2023 local elections found that, while three per cent of those aged 45 and over thought abusive behaviour was acceptable, this increased to 16% in the 18-24 age group. It is “one of the most shocking pieces of research” that Moore encountered during her research for the report. Young people are losing hope and belief that they can change anything, influenced partly by their inability to vote in the Brexit referendum, and partly by the impact of Covid lockdowns and the current cost-of-living crisis, she says. “Their belief that ‘all politicians are as bad as each other’ will be a challenge when it comes to turnout at the general election.”

To address this cynicism, one of the report’s recommendations is to improve political literacy – including through regular visits by councillors and parliamentarians to schools and colleges to raise awareness of what they do, and by running public education campaigns alongside elections to help inform people about who and what they are voting for. The report also calls on all elected representatives, especially those in leadership roles, to model good behaviour by treating each other with respect.

Its primary recommendation, however, is that the government establish a central unit to address the problem of intimidation and abuse of elected politicians and appoint a minister to run it. It may seem surprising that such a coordinating body does not already exist, but, says Moore, given the number of major issues politicians are wrestling with – from the Israel-Gaza war to the cost-of-living crisis – “they feel that devoting time to asking for something that will help them in their own day-to-day lives would not sit well with the electorate.”
Understanding community

As an independent organisation, The Jo Cox Foundation believes it can and should step into this space. “There is precedent,” points out Moore. The fact that the UK has a ‘minister for loneliness’ – the current incumbent is Stuart Andrew, parliamentary under-secretary of state for equalities – is the direct result of a recommendation from the final 2017 report published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, set up by the late MP shortly before her death in 2016.

Loneliness remains a focus for the organisation – around 250 community events took place across the UK during the ‘Great Winter Get Together’ in January. It gets intelligence from the communities it works with and from the Connection Coalition, which it runs – a group of more than 1,000 organisations working, mostly, at a small, local level.

Research conducted by the foundation in 2022 found, perhaps counterintuitively, that the loneliest cohort is 18-24-year-olds, says Moore, whereas the least lonely are those over 70. Social media again plays a role: it provides the illusion of connectedness, but is a poor proxy for meaningful connection, she points out.

As part of its commitment to stronger communities and a fairer world, the foundation ran a project with refugee and migrant communities in Yorkshire in 2023. Moore won’t be drawn on whether or not people really want to ‘stop the boats’, as the government insists they do, but says: “We find time and time again that people really relish the opportunity to get together with people who are not like them: they often strike up genuine friendships and it deepens their sense of community.”

Community itself is a multifaceted concept, she points out, and is the subject of “ongoing conversation” at the foundation, where deepening the impact of the work it already does is another strategic focus. “‘Community’ can mean the local neighbourhood; it can mean people with shared interests who don’t live near each other; it can mean shared identity; and it can mean place,” she explains. “However you define it, we know that being part of a community, where people accept you for who you are, is really important for general wellbeing.”

Should more public policy-making be informed by the kind of research The Jo Cox Foundation does – and are those who are making policy sufficiently in touch with the ordinary lives of the people their policies will affect?

“A lot of good research does exist, but the way it is accessed by government could improve,” says Moore. Part of the problem is the level of ministerial churn: “We have good relationships with ministers and civil servants, and we can be a conduit between policy-makers and organisations on the ground. I genuinely believe there is goodwill there, but it can take a long time for a new minister to get their head around a specific brief.”

The nature of the research Moore and her colleagues conduct, particularly for the Civility Commission report, can take an emotional toll. “There have been times while doing the abuse and intimidation work when I have just needed to step away, because it becomes very intense,” she admits. Moore adds that, although it is “an organisation born from trauma”, the foundation is very well aware of the effect some of the work it is dealing with can affect everyone, not just her.

“Making sure that staff wellbeing is at the centre of everything we do has been a really big development for us, organisationally. People always know that, if things get a bit much – or if they need someone to talk to – we have internal support systems in place to help. And everyone knows they can come and talk to me about anything.”

One way Moore herself decompresses is by running – a hobby that delivers additional benefits. “I get my best ideas at 7.30 in the morning when I’m pounding the pavements.”

This article was first published in the April 2024 issue of Impact.