Kim Leadbeater

Kim Michele Leadbeater MBE (/ˈlɛdbiːtər/; born 1 May 1976) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen since 2021.

Leadbeater was born in 1976 in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England, to parents Jean and Gordon. She is the younger sister of former MP Jo Cox (1974–2016). Kim attended Heckmondwike Grammar School, and says that she has lived in "every little bit of" the local area. Leadbeater went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in health-related exercise and fitness from Leeds Beckett University in 2005 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) from the University of Huddersfield in 2008.

Before moving into politics, Leadbeater was a lecturer in physical health at Bradford College, and has worked as a personal trainer.

Political career

On 23 May 2021, Leadbeater was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the Batley and Spen by-election. Her older sister, Jo Cox, had served as the constituency's MP from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016; Leadbeater contributed to the 2017 book Jo Cox: More in Common. Upon her selection, Leadbeater declared that she was "the candidate the Tories fear." Her selection proved controversial, as Leadbeater had been selected despite only joining the party in recent weeks; the rule requiring that candidates should be a member of the party for a year before being nominated was waived. She had previously been a member of the Labour Party but let this lapse following the murder of her sister when she helped found the Jo Cox Foundation on a non-party basis.She was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen on 1 July 2021, with a 323-vote majority. Leadbeater made her maiden speech on 9 September 2021 during a debate on her sister's legacy.

In her first six months in parliament, her two longest speeches were tributes to her sister and to David Amess, another MP who had been murdered. She argued that MPs' safety was not being taken seriously enough, and she called for anonymity on social media to become an exception to combat a culture of abuse.

In 2023 she wrote a report, published by the Fabian Society: Healthy Britain: a new approach to health and wellbeing policy.

She announced in May 2023 that she intends to stand for the new constituency of Spen Valley at the next general election, following changes made by the Boundary Commission which would abolish the Batley and Spen constituency and create Spen Valley and Dewsbury and Batley.

As of June 2023 she is chair of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) on Sport and Tidy Britain, co-chair of the groups on Political Literacy and on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities, and vice-chair or officer of several others.

She visited Israel and the Occupied Territories in February 2023 and has spoken out in favour of a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She is a member of both Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle Eastand Labour Friends of Israel.

Leadbeater lives in her constituency with her partner Clare. Outside of politics, her main interests are hockey and sport.

In 2020, she was appointed President of West Yorkshire Scouts.

In 2018, Leadbeater was awarded the UK's one thousandth Points of Light award by Prime Minister Theresa May for having "rejected the hate that marked [her] sister's murder to continue Jo's work and ensure that Jo's determination to change the world has lived on."

In the 2021 New Year Honours, Leadbeater was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "[f]or services to Social Cohesion, to the community in Batley, West Yorkshire and to Combatting Loneliness during Covid-19", when she was described in The London Gazette as "Ambassador, Jo Cox Foundation and Chair, More in Common Batley and Spen".

The Spectator named her as 2021's "Newcomer of the Year".