Ex neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate

Image source, Contributed

Image caption, Joshua Bonehill-Paine now speaks out against extremism

ByChris Lockyer

Somerset

Updated 1 hour ago

A man who was jailed over his Neo-Nazi activism will stand as a Tory candidate in council elections after being offered a "second chance" by the party.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine spent three years in prison for posting antisemitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally and a year later he was also convicted of racially harassing then-Labour MP Luciana Berger.

Bonehill-Payne has been selected to stand in the new Somerset Council seat of Crewkerne South in 2027. He said he wanted to "give back" to a community which had supported him.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said he had "shown contrition for his crimes" but the Board of Deputies of British Jews said the move "beggars belief".

Image source, Yeovil Conservatives

Image caption, Joshua Bonehill-Paine will stand as a candidate in next year's council elections

Bonehill-Paine, who was behind the online satirical project The Crewkerne Gazette, also holds previous convictions for assaulting a police officer, burglary of a police station and malicious communications.

Badenoch said: "He is spending every day working to solve the very problem which he knew he had caused previously.

"He's going up and down the country training people and the Conservative Party believes in second chances.

"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."

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, Kemi Badenoch supports Bonehill-Paine in his candidacy

The content creator said his previous views were "indefensible".

He said: "When I was first released from prison in 2018, I was supported by many of the people in my local community who understood that I had made some awful mistakes but was wanting to change my life around."

Bonehill-Paine made the decision to reform his previous extremist views when he heard about the murder of MP Jo Cox during his prison sentence.

"I felt an enormous sense of emotion - of grief and of anger that this lady had been murdered by a far-right extremist," he said.

"This was a mother, a wife, who had been viciously murdered in cold blood and I started to question why it was that I was supporting a right-wing ideology."

He undertook a de-radicalisation programme and now delivers counter-extremism sessions around the UK.

'Built on trust'

Karen Newman, vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, criticised the move, saying "it beggars belief".

She said: "We have contacted the Conservative Party to set out our concerns and call on them to rescind his selection and review their vetting processes."

Liberal Democrat MP Adam Dance, whose Yeovil constituency includes Crewkerne, said: "Residents deserve to feel confident in those seeking to represent them.

"Public service is built on trust and elected representatives have a responsibility to bring communities together and uphold the highest standards in public life.

"It is now for the Conservative Party to explain why it believes this candidate is fit to serve."

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote: "Is this part of the 'new generation' of Conservative candidates Kemi Badenoch is promising?"

Meanwhile, a Labour Party spokesperson said: "Kemi Badenoch is selecting a former neo-Nazi who was convicted for harassing a Jewish MP while boasting about kicking out moderate Tories who back net zero.

"It's a total disgrace.

"This tells you everything you need to know about the modern Conservative Party.

"Under Kemi Badenoch they're becoming more extreme and more out of touch with Britain."