UK Conservatives defend picking former neo-Nazi as election candidate

The leader of Britain's opposition Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, defended the selection of Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi with a history of hate crimes, as a local election candidate. Bonehill-Paine was convicted in 2015 for racially aggravated harassment of Luciana Berger, a Labour MP, and had previously been imprisoned for stirring up hatred against a north London Jewish community.

Despite the condemnation from other political parties and Jewish groups, Badenoch claimed that Bonehill-Paine had disavowed his previous views and was now fit to run for a local council. The candidate would be focusing on issues such as parking and bin collection, and his work with the anti-radicalisation programme Prevent demonstrated his commitment to fighting antisemitism.

However, Berger, who now serves in the House of Lords, emphasized the significant difference between educating others and running for public office, stating that Bonehill-Paine had engaged in a sustained campaign against her and others. Both the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council rejected an invitation to meet with Bonehill-Paine and urged the Conservatives to withdraw his selection.

Antisemitism has been on the rise in Britain, with several political parties having to drop candidates or expel politicians due to past associations with the ideology.