A former neo-Nazi activist, who previously faced conviction for harassing a Jewish Member of Parliament, has stepped down as a Conservative candidate for the upcoming elections after Kemi Badenoch extended an offer for him to serve as an advisor to the party.
On Wednesday, Joshua Bonehill-Paine announced his decision to withdraw from the local elections scheduled for next year. Instead, he has accepted a position as an advisor to Badenoch’s culture and integration commission, where he will concentrate on issues related to the radicalization of young men.
Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, has recently faced criticism from various individuals and organizations, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews. She expressed her disappointment that Bonehill-Paine felt he would not have the opportunity to clarify his stance and represent his community. “To effectively combat extremism and antisemitism, we need the assistance of individuals who were once part of the problem but have now transformed and are working towards a solution,” she stated in a message on X.
Both the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council declined the Conservative Party’s invitation to meet with Bonehill-Paine. He has previously identified himself as a “nationalist, fascist, theorist, and supporter of white rights” and has recently gained attention as the creator of the Crewkerne Gazette, a satirical online platform that has attracted a dedicated following.
Bonehill-Paine was slated to run for a seat on the Somerset council in the new Crewkerne South district. However, he stated in his post on X that he believes his expertise would be better utilized in assisting Kemi Badenoch in her efforts to address the antisemitism and extremism that are causing division within the country.
In 2015, he received a prison sentence of over three years for disseminating “vile” antisemitic content online in the lead-up to a planned neo-Nazi event. Additionally, in 2016, he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment for targeting the then Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish. This abuse included derogatory blog posts in which he referred to Berger as a “rodent” and an “evil money-grabber.”
Berger, now a member of the House of Lords and previously a target of Bonehill-Paine’s harassment, intervened this week to directly address Badenoch, stating, “To be clear, I do not believe this man should have any role in public life due to both his racist views and his perspective on women.”
