UK Conservatives defend selection of former neo-Nazi as a candidate

The Conservative Party's leader defended the selection of a former neo-Nazi as a local election candidate, citing his rehabilitation and potential to combat antisemitism in a local council role.

The leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party defended the selection of a former neo-Nazi who had been jailed for hate crimes as a local election candidate, saying on Wednesday ‌that he was rehabilitated and could help fight antisemitism.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine in 2015 was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Luciana Berger, then a Labour member of parliament, and had also been imprisoned for stirring up hatred against a north London Jewish community. His selection as a ‌candidate for an election to Somerset council in south-west England drew condemnation from other parties and Jewish groups.

Badenoch said what he ‌did was "appalling" but he had disavowed his previous views and was fit to run for a local council, where he would be "looking at parking, sorting out bins." "It's not a national platform... This man is showing that he's more than contrite," she told the BBC, referring to his work with anti-radicalisation programme Prevent, adding ⁠she wanted to ​build a movement against antisemitism ⁠in Britain.

Antisemitism has been on the rise in Britain for years and many parties have had to drop candidates or expel politicians. A Welsh parliament candidate ⁠for the right-wing populist Reform UK quit after he was photographed appearing to do a Nazi salute, while the Green Party suspended several candidates accused ​of antisemitism ahead of local elections in May.

The governing Labour Party was found by the equalities watchdog to have ⁠failed in its handling of antisemitism complaints when it was in opposition in 2020. The watchdog said in 2023 that it had taken sufficient steps to tackle ⁠the problem. Badenoch ​partly defended Bonehill-Paine's selection by citing Labour's selection of a former Nazi at a local election in 2012.

Advocacy groups the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council declined an invitation to meet with Bonehill-Paine and urged the Conservatives ⁠to rescind their selection. Berger, who now is a member of parliament's unelected upper House of Lords, said there was a "massive distinction" between Bonehill-Paine ⁠educating others about why what ⁠he did was wrong "to making the leap to standing for public office".

"This is not just one-off 'hurty words'," Berger told the BBC. "This is a man that engaged and indulged in a sustained campaign, ‌not just against ‌me, but (also) many others."