Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former antisemitic internet troll who was once jailed for harassing a Jewish former MP, has withdrawn as a Conservative council candidate following a major backlash. He had been selected to contest a council election in Somerset for the Conservatives next year.
Mr Bonehill-Paine announced his decision, saying other political parties would "spend all their time focusing on my past rather than the work I'm doing today". He added: "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."
New role as adviser
He said: "I have therefore informed the party of my decision to withdraw from next year’s council election and Kemi has instead offered that I become an adviser to the Conservative Party’s culture and integration commission, specifically focusing on how young men become radicalised."
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who had been under pressure to drop Mr Bonehill-Paine but insisted he had been rehabilitated, said she was "sad" he "won’t be given the space to explain his position and represent his community". She added that he would now work with the Conservatives on tackling radicalisation as part of the party’s culture and integration commission.
Badenoch defends decision
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."
Mr Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 for three years after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Jewish Labour peer Baroness Berger. He served a separate jail sentence for producing an advert for a neo-Nazi rally illustrated with a picture of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, which promised "an absolute gas".
Apology and criticism
He has since apologised for his past offending and said he has now dedicated himself to "challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face".
A Reform UK spokesman said: "It beggars belief that Kemi Badenoch has hired a former neo-Nazi. Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a self-professed fascist who has been jailed for publishing antisemitic material, will now have a say over national Conservative Party policy. This is alarming news for the Jewish community in Britain."
Mr Bonehill-Paine’s selection to contest the Crewkerne South ward in Somerset next May prompted intense criticism from Jewish groups and opposition politicians. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council called for the party to change course, while Baroness Berger said he should not have "any role in public life – because of both his racism and his view of women".
