12 Facts About Jo Richardson

Josephine Richardson was a British Labour Party politician.

Jo Richardson was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, and attended Southend High School for Girls.

Jo Richardson's mother was a member of the Congregational Church.

Jo Richardson co-ordinated the Keep Left Group within the party, and went on to become the secretary of the Tribune Group before co-ordinating the Victory for Socialism Campaign.

Jo Richardson was seen as a peace campaigner on the hard left of the Labour Party.

Jo Richardson was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group, but resigned in 1988 in protest at Tony Benn's decision to challenge Neil Kinnock for the leadership.

Jo Richardson was a central figure of the feminist left, helped to expand women's rights in Britain, and was the head of a group of women MPs that supported the anti-pornography position.

Jo Richardson served as an executive member of the National Council for Civil Liberties during a time in which the Paedophile Information Exchange, a pro-paedophile activist group, was affiliated with it.

Jo Richardson wrote to PIE journal Childhood Rights, saying that she supported that organisation's campaign against corporal punishment.

Jo Richardson co-authored the pamphlet Keeping Left with Richard Crossman, Michael Foot and Ian Mikardo.

Amid complications of rheumatoid arthritis, Jo Richardson's health declined precipitously in her last year of life, and she underwent spinal surgery.

Jo Richardson died from respiratory failure at her home on 1 February 1994, at the age of 70.