Ex neo-Nazi activist withdraws as Tory election candidate

It follows a backlash against the party's decision to pick Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a council candidate in Somerset.

The Guardian view on the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch: purging moderation is not 'common sense' | Editorial

A row over a local council candidate reveals a deeper problem with the Tory leader’s diagnosis of her party’s electoral predicament Kemi Badenoch has been clear about the qualifying criteria for prospective Conservative MPs. They must be “serious people who understand common sense,” she has said. The situation in local government is different, as demonstrated by Mrs Badenoch’s ill-judged support for a former neo-Nazi, selected to stand as a councillor in Somerset next year. Joshua Bonehill-Pa...

By Editorial

UK Conservatives defend picking former neo-Nazi as election candidate

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 was convicted in 2015 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...

By Reuters

Former neo-Nazi activist withdraws as Tory local election candidate after backlash

Joshua Bonehill-Paine said Kemi Badenoch had offered him an alternative role as an adviser ‘on how young men become radicalised’

By Kate Devlin

Former neo-Nazi withdraws as UK Conservative candidate after backlash

A former neo-Nazi jailed for hate crimes withdrew on Wednesday as a local election candidate for Britain’s Conservative Party, saying he needed to do more to convince the Jewish community of his commitment to fighting antisemitism. Joshua Bonehill-Paine was convicted in 2015 of racially aggravated harassment of Luciana Berger, then a Labour lawmaker, and had […]