Badenoch defends Tory decision to back ex-neo-Nazi for council run
SOMERSET — Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has defended her party’s decision to let Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi jailed for antisemitic abuse, ...
SOMERSET — Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has defended her party’s decision to let Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi jailed for antisemitic abuse, stand as a councillor in Somerset. She said the Conservatives were not giving him a “national platform”.
The case has reopened a raw debate inside British politics about rehabilitation, public trust and where parties draw the line. It also puts pressure on the Conservatives as they try to show a tougher stance on antisemitism while weighing how far contrition should count.
Badenoch points to rehabilitation
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Badenoch said Bonehill-Paine was showing “more than contrite” behaviour and pointed to work she said he was doing with Prevent officers, as well as speaking in universities and schools.
“I am extremely worried about antisemitism and what I feel is that if we can’t have the people who have previously been radicalised, who understand what went wrong and are part of the fight against antisemitism now, if we’re saying: ‘No, no, no, you’re untouchable,’ then how can we pretend that we believe in rehabilitation?” she said.
She added: “I’m someone who’s quite sceptical about rehabilitation and I see this man as somebody who has been rehabilitated.”
Badenoch also said she applies a higher bar to parliamentary candidates than to local council hopefuls. Bonehill-Paine is standing for election as a councillor, not as an MP candidate.
Jewish groups reject the choice
The decision has drawn a sharp response from Jewish organisations. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council said they would meet the Conservative Party to discuss the selection, but declined the party’s invitation to meet Bonehill-Paine himself.
In a joint statement, the two groups said the severity of his crimes against Luciana Berger and others means he still faces ongoing legal restrictions. They said rehabilitation should not, in this case, lead to selection by a major political party.
They also said the impact on victims should sit at the centre of the party’s thinking. The groups urged the Conservatives to rescind the decision.
Background to the case
Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 after being convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Labour peer Luciana Berger, who is Jewish. Berger was targeted in a campaign of antisemitic abuse that has remained a touchstone in British political debate over hate crime and intimidation.
The controversy now lands on Badenoch’s desk at a sensitive moment. She is trying to defend a line that treats local candidacies differently from national office. The argument is clear. The backlash is, too.
Luciana Berger said Bonehill-Paine fell short of the bar for public office, while Jewish groups continue to press the Conservatives for a reversal as the row over his candidacy grows louder.
