A former neo-Nazi jailed for racially harassing a former Merseyside MP has been selected as a local election candidate by the Conservatives. Labour peer Baroness Luciana Berger has slammed the Tories' decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine to fight the Crewkerne South division of Somerset next May.
Background of the case
Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment against Lady Berger, who is Jewish. He wrote several blog posts about the peer, who was Labour's MP for Wavertree between 2010 and 2019, in which he described her as "an evil money-grabber" with a "deep-rooted hatred of men".
In one post he claimed the number of Jewish Labour MPs was a "problem". He was previously jailed for producing an advert illustrated with a picture of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz which promised "an absolute gas" at a rally in Golders Green, north London.
Luciana Berger's reaction
Writing on X, Lady Berger said she was six months pregnant when she gave evidence in Bonehill-Paine's trial at the Old Bailey. She wrote: "It was two days of hell." She also said: "This case still haunts me. I feel a bit sick reading well-known commentators debate his selection today and say that 'these are precisely the people we need in public office'. For the avoidance of doubt I don't believe this man should have any role in public life – because of both his racism and his view of women. Kemi Badenoch you've got this very, very wrong."
Kemi Badenoch's defence
Conservative Party leader Ms Badenoch previously defended her party's decision, saying the candidate was "spending every day working to solve the very problem which he knew that he had caused previously". Ms Badenoch told reporters on Tuesday: "I want to be very clear – and I think people can look at me and know that I'm not a person who would be recruiting neo-Nazis."
"Josh is someone who actually has been certified by the Home Office to train police officers on antisemitism and on countering extremism. Yes, he is somebody who had been previously convicted but he is someone who has shown contrition for his crimes, has been rehabilitated and is spending every day working to solve the very problem which he knew that he had caused previously."
Mrs Badenoch added: "This is not just someone that we've picked up who is a convicted criminal – this is somebody who is actively working to help communities, especially Jewish communities. And this is what I want to see – I want to see second chances for good people, for people who've learned their lessons, for people who are showing that they know what they did was wrong."
Bonehill-Paine's criminal history and statement
Bonehill-Paine has a lengthy criminal history including convictions for assaulting a police officer and stealing a police uniform and malicious communications for branding other social media users paedophiles. He was sentenced to more than three years in prison for the Auschwitz image offences and for two years for the online campaign against Lady Berger. He left prison in 2018.
In a statement seen by the Press Association news agency, Bonehill-Paine said: "Eight years ago, I made the decision to confront and combat antisemitism. I felt enormous grief and shame over the way I had treated Jewish people in this country. What I did was utterly indefensible and there can be no excuses for it. Since then, I have come to know many people within the Jewish community and have dedicated myself to challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face. That is a commitment I will carry with me for the rest of my life."
Connection to satirical X page
Earlier this year, Channel 4 News unmasked Bonehill-Paine as the anonymous man behind the viral satirical X page the Crewkerne Gazette. The page, which has more than 40,000 followers on the social media platform, features AI-generated videos depicting various real-life politicians, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Ms Badenoch, shadow home secretary Chris Philp and prime minister Andy Burnham.
