Ex neo-Nazi activist withdraws as Tory election candidate

BBC ^ | Aug 5 | Paul Seddon, Political reporter and Nick Eardley, Political correspondent

[RandFan]

A former neo-Nazi selected by the Conservatives to fight a council election next year has pulled out after a backlash against his candidacy.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine was convicted of racially harassing Jewish former Labour MP Luciana Berger in 2016, while already serving a separate jail sentence for sharing antisemitic posts.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch had defended the decision to select him as a candidate for the new Somerset Council seat of Crewkerne South, saying he had been rehabilitated and her party "believes in second chances".

But Bonehill-Paine said he had now withdrawn his candidacy, and had been offered a position as an anti-extremism adviser to the party.

In a social media post, he said the position with the Conservative Party's Culture and Integration Commission would focus on advising on how to prevent young men from being radicalised.

Berger, who now sits as Baroness Berger in the House of Lords, described the appointment as an "insult," adding that making him a party adviser was "no better than allowing him to stand as a council candidate".

The position as an anti-extremism adviser to the party is unpaid, the BBC understands.

Bonehill-Paine spent three years in prison after he was jailed in 2015 for posting antisemitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally. He was convicted of racially harassing then-Labour MP Berger the following year.

He has described his past views as "indefensible" and says he has spent years opposing antisemitism since leaving prison in 2018.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: antisemite; nationalsocialistfan; nazifan; naziscumonfr; nazisnotconservative; uknazisonfr

[RandFan]

Only certain approved groups or people can be rehabilitated and certainly not those on the right!

[BenLurkin]

So this guy was into the whole Master Race thing?

Or did he simply oppose immigration?

[for-q-clinton]

NAZI aren’t right-wing though. I think you meant to say the right can’t rehabilitate anyone, had he remained a leftist they would have forgiven him.

[rktman]

Maybe he has conservative ideas. You know how terrifying that can be.

[RandFan]

Thanks for the correction. Yes, he now identifies as a Conservative but can’t run for anything it seems

[Wayne07]

Probably no worse than randfan or benlurkin!

[bigbob]

with a name like Bonehill-Pain...

[dfwgator]

Maybe he has conservative ideas. You know how terrifying that can be.

"Well for starters, he wants to annex Poland."

[montag813]

while already serving a separate jail sentence for sharing antisemitic posts

No nation that does this can call themselves free.

[cowboyusa]

😂😂