How Brits are being made to hate each other – and who’s to blame

What’s the story?

When Jo Cox was murdered in 2016, in the midst of campaigns on whether the UK should remain in, or leave, the EU, many people thought it would signal a change in British politics.

The Labour MP, a lifelong campaigner for diversity, and against war, was killed in her constituency of Batley and Spen by a white supremacist who shouted "Britain first" as he attacked the MP.

Her senseless murder, people hoped, would inspire a more patient, more tolerant politics, as the nation was united in shock and grief.

But that didn't happen. Things just got worse.

"When Jo Cox was murdered, the clarion call was we must do something to detoxify political debate," says Jon Sopel.

"We must be able to learn to respect that people have different views, and that if a democracy is to thrive, you can't just go around killing people you disagree with.

"Yet arguably here we are 10 years on from that murder, and although the Jo Cox Foundation is doing great work, you'd have to say that we feel as a country more polarised than ever."

In the years since, the UK has seen the rise of hard-right political parties Reform UK and, more recently, Restore Britain, huge numbers of people attending far-right marches hosted by extremist Tommy Robinson, and ongoing division across society.

Much of this has been stoked on social media, where hugely influential figures such as X and Tesla owner Elon Musk, along with senior US politicians, are meddling in European society from behind the safety of their blue-tick accounts.

Lewis Goodall’s lasting memories of the murder of Jo Cox

Lewis Goodall reported from Batley and Spen on the day the Labour MP was murdered, and says the memories of that visit will never leave him.

"It was perhaps one of the most, if not the most, disturbing and chilling days of my journalistic career," he says.

"I have this image indelibly sketched on my mind of arriving there in this very normal, typical Yorkshire town with a lovely little library, lovely little high street, surrounded by police tape.

"In the middle of the street you could literally see Joe Cox's high heels where she took them off as she was being pursued by this far-right lunatic wielding a gun and a knife."

That sight, he adds, has never left him.

"I remember that night thinking almost straight away, that Britain had politically changed somehow," Lewis says.

It had, he says, but not the way he imagined.

"I felt that it would almost be a jolt, a warning, a sense that Britain was maybe looking over the edge and looking over the precipice of a different type of politics," he says.

"It felt that, however gingerly, Britain might pull back.

"What we know from the succeeding 10 years, is that it has been the opposite."

What changed, and who changed it?

The left blames the right. The right blames the left. But while both sides are capable of political violence, it is becoming more and more clear that something bigger is behind the UK's decline.

It was recently revealed that Russia was behind arson attacks on properties owned by Keir Starmer in London, on top of what was already confirmed about its interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

It is also known that Russia has been responsible for race-related attacks in the UK, such as vandalism on mosques and Jewish property. All different targets, but all with the same simple intention – to sow dissent and division across the world.

Clearly, it’s working.

"Groups in the UK are being targeted, so that everyone would hate one another," says Jon.

"And this seems to be a new political reality that we face in Britain today."

Why this is working

The dark, powerful influence of Russia's political interference is significant enough, but with the political division sown deeply by misinformation, deepfakes and outright lies on social media, Brits in every corner of UK politics are letting it win.

We are, Lewis says, far too quick to point the finger at our obvious rivals, and rarely see the bigger picture.

"When political violence happens, excuses – to some extent – are made for it, and there is blame against the other side for the political culture that they say that side alone has created," he says.

When Jo Cox was killed there were many who claimed the white supremacist attacker was a “complete madman” and that it was mere “coincidence” it took place so close to the Brexit referendum.

But, Lewis adds, this is rarely the case when violence comes from the other side of the spectrum.

"When we see left-wing political violence – for example, when Charlie Kirk was so appallingly assassinated – they say that the political culture up to that moment has contributed to that happening," he says.

"My view would be that these things rarely come completely out of nowhere, and every side has a responsibility to try and regulate that sort of politics."

"I fear this is going to get worse before it gets better, because so much now is deeply algorithmic politics."

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