The Prime Minister has been condemned for his apparent working relationship with a murdered MP’s widow, despite his sexual misconduct allegations.
Charity leaders have expressed “discomfort and bewilderment” over Brendan Cox, the widower of Jo Cox, who stepped down from three charity roles following the allegations, and Downing Street’s “close working relationship”.
Mr Cox advised Gordon Brown during his premiership, and is now being “informally consulted” by No10 on social cohesion strategies, reports The New Statesman.
Since the death of his wife in 2016, Mr Cox has dedicated his career to countering extremism and community tensions and has lobbied this and previous governments on these issues.
He is now the head of strategy at the Together Initiative, the charity behind the Together Coalition, which aims to foster community spirit by bringing different groups together.
The Together Coalition convenes the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion, which the Government is said to be moulding, informally, its social cohesion strategy – with Mr Cox as the “driving force”.
It is understood Mr Cox does not believe the commission’s work has been explicitly adopted by Downing Street, which has also denied giving Cox preferential treatment.
Between May 2023 and June 2025, the Together Initiative received £1,252,400 in funding from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport.
The Prime Minister has been condemned for his apparent working relationship with a murdered MP’s widow, despite sexual misconduct allegations
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PAMr Cox was accused of sexual misconduct in 2015 while working at charity Save the Children as chief strategist.
While he denied any wrongdoing at the time, he stood down from his post.
Three years later, in 2018, he stood down from two more charities: More in Common and the Jo Cox Foundation.
Details had emerged he assaulted a woman in her 30s at a Harvard University bar in 2015.
Brendan Cox stepped down from three charities following sexual misconduct allegations
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PA
A police complaint was said to have been filed for indecent assault and battery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
These were later dropped, and his lawyers denied the “spurious allegations”, insisting no sexual assault took place.
In a statement, Mr Cox said at the time: “I want to apologise deeply and unreservedly for my past behaviour and for the hurt and offence that I have caused.”
Both Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jess Phillips said Mr Cox had made the right decision to step down from his post.
Meanwhile, Lucy Powell, now Deputy Prime Minister, praised him for “reflecting and taking responsibility for past actions”.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing in his current role at the Together Initiative.
Charities and former colleagues have been fierce in their criticism of No10 for their seemingly close working relationship.
One figure familiar with the Government’s social cohesion work expressed to the New Statesman “discomfort and bewilderment” in Mr Cox’s involvement due to the historic allegations.
“It’s nuts that they’re still consulting him,” they said, while another asked: “What the f*** are they doing?”
A former colleague of his at Save the Children said: “No10 cannot pretend that they did not know about it or that it did not come up in their due diligence checks. They know it and they have decided that it doesn’t matter because he is useful to them.”
Mr Cox and Downing Street have denied he is consulting on policy.