Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi activist convicted of harassing a Jewish MP, has withdrawn as a Conservative election candidate following an outcry from Jewish groups and others. He announced on Wednesday that he would not stand in next year's local elections, claiming instead that Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch had offered him a role advising the party's culture and integration commission on the radicalisation of young men.
Background and Convictions
Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2015 for more than three years after posting vile antisemitic material online before a planned neo-Nazi rally. In 2016, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for abuse directed at the then Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish, including posting messages to his blog calling Berger a "rodent" and an "evil money-grabber".
Reactions and Response
The Tory leader, who has faced pressure from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and others, said she was "sad" that Bonehill-Paine felt he "won't be given the space to explain his position and represent his community". In a post on X, she added: "If we are going to stop extremism and antisemitism, we are going to need help from those people who were part of the problem, but have now changed and are being part of the solution."
Both the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council had declined the Tory party's offer of a meeting with Bonehill-Paine, who previously described himself as a "nationalist, fascist, theorist and supporter of white rights" and re-emerged as the creator of the Crewkerne Gazette, a satirical online account.
Bonehill-Paine said in a post on X: "Rather than standing as a local council candidate, I believe that my experience is better used supporting Kemi Badenoch in her ongoing mission to combat the antisemitism and extremism that is dividing our nation."
Further Intervention
Luciana Berger, now a member of the House of Lords, had intervened earlier this week, telling Badenoch directly: "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."
