Former Neo-Nazi Withdraws as Tory Council Candidate

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi activist selected by the Conservatives to stand in next year’s council election, has withdrawn his candidacy after widespread backlash over his record.

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

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, had defended his selection as the party’s candidate for the new Somerset Council seat of Crewkerne South, saying he had been rehabilitated and that the Conservatives “believe in second chances”.

Bonehill-Paine Steps Back From Election Bid

Bonehill-Paine said he had now pulled out of the race. In a social media post, he added that he had been offered a role as an anti-extremism adviser with the Conservative Party’s Culture and Integration Commission.

He said the job would involve advising on how to prevent young men from being radicalised.

The role is unpaid, the BBC understands.

Bonehill-Paine said the position would allow him to support Badenoch’s efforts to combat antisemitism and extremism, rather than standing for the council seat. He also said opposition parties would focus on his past rather than what he claimed to be doing in the present.

UK Ministers And Jewish Peers Criticise The Selection

Berger, who now sits as Baroness Berger in the House of Lords, described the advisory appointment as an “insult”. She said making him a party adviser was “no better than allowing him to stand as a council candidate”.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Bonehill-Paine “should never have been a candidate ... given the harassment that he visited on Luciana Berger”, adding that the Conservative Party should explain why he was chosen and clarify any future activities he might carry out on the party’s behalf.

The criticism from Jewish groups, which had declined an offer from Bonehill-Paine for a meeting, became a central driver of his decision to step down, according to the account of events.

Berger, who gave evidence at Bonehill-Paine’s trial at the Old Bailey, said his conduct fell “very, very short” of the standard required for public office. She described the impact of the material she received as extensive and said she found it difficult to give evidence while she was pregnant.

In sentencing, the judge said it was “difficult to envisage a worse case than this of racially aggravated harassment of this kind”, adding that Bonehill-Paine had “sat in the dock smirking throughout the trial” and had “plainly enjoyed” Berger’s discomfort.

Badenoch Defends Second Chances As Reform And Lib Dems React

Badenoch said she was sad that Bonehill-Paine felt he would not be given space to explain his views, but said she welcomed the move to work with her and the party on tackling radicalisation. She added that stopping extremism and antisemitism would require help from people who had previously been part of the problem but had since changed.

Reform UK criticised the adviser role, with a spokesman saying it “beggars belief” and was “alarming news for the Jewish community in Britain”.

Liberal Democrat MP Adam Dance, the MP for Yeovil, said the withdrawal was “the right outcome”, but said Badenoch’s response after the backlash was concerning. He criticised the way the party framed concerns about antisemitism as “piling on”.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed Bonehill-Paine’s decision not to stand, and urged parties to use vetting to ensure a robust approach to racism and discrimination, including antisemitism.

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6 August 2026

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