Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is facing mounting criticism over her decision to appoint a former antisemite as a party adviser.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who had been selected by the Tories to contest a council election next year, withdrew his candidacy after a backlash. Mrs Badenoch said Mr Bonehill-Paine will instead work with the Tories on tackling radicalisation as part of the party’s culture and integration commission.
Victim calls appointment an 'insult'
Labour peer Baroness Luciana Berger described the decision as an “insult”. Mr Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Baroness Berger, who is Jewish. She said: “The decision to welcome this individual as an adviser to the leader of the Opposition is no better than allowing him to stand as a council candidate. It is a privileged and influential national role. As a victim of this man’s heinous crimes, this appointment is an insult.”
Mr Bonehill-Paine said he had been offered a position as an adviser to the Conservatives’ culture and integration commission “specifically focusing on how young men become radicalised”.
Political backlash
Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the Tories had questions to answer, telling broadcasters: “He should never have been a candidate for the Conservative Party, given the harassment that he positioned upon Luciana Berger, a colleague and a friend of mine. I think the Conservative Party is going to have to answer for why he’s a candidate in the first place, and also any future activities he might be undertaking on behalf of the Conservative Party.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mrs Badenoch had shown an “outrageous lack of judgment, doubling down on her support for a former neo-Nazi”. Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson also questioned Mrs Badenoch’s judgment, saying: “It beggars belief that Kemi Badenoch was happy for a former neo-Nazi to stand in the first place. That she has gifted him a plum job further adds to that shame. It speaks volumes about Badenoch’s judgment and even more about the state of the Conservative Party under her leadership.”
Mixed reactions
A Reform UK spokesman said Mr Bonehill-Paine’s appointment “beggars belief”. But Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said it was a positive move. Mr Rosenberg, who declined an offer from the Conservatives to meet the would-be councillor, told Times Radio: “I think it is good to use the experiences of people who have themselves been down this track to counter radicalisation in other places. Him playing a role specifically in education around these matters is more appropriate, certainly more appropriate than him standing as a local politician.”
On Wednesday, Mrs Badenoch said she was “sad” that Mr Bonehill-Paine “won’t be given the space to explain his position and represent his community”. She said: “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. Piling on them and trying to get them cancelled may be sport for other parties, but this is a different Conservative Party.”
Background
Mr Bonehill-Paine’s selection to contest the Crewkerne South ward in Somerset next May prompted a storm of criticism from Jewish groups and opposition politicians. He had previously been jailed for producing an advert for a neo-Nazi rally illustrated with a picture of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz which promised “an absolute gas”. He has since apologised for his past offending and said he has dedicated himself to “challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face”.
