Badenoch appoints ex-neo-Nazi activist as adviser

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has faced intense criticism after first defending the selection of a former neo-Nazi activist as a local election candidate and then, following his withdrawal, appointing him as an adviser to the party on combating extremism. Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who has multiple criminal convictions for antisemitic hate crimes, withdrew his candidacy on August 5, 2026, after a swift and widespread backlash from Jewish community leaders and political opponents.

Bonehill-Paine had been selected to stand for the Conservative Party in the Crewkerne South ward for Somerset Council in elections scheduled for May 2027. His past includes a 2015 conviction and prison sentence for posting antisemitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally, and a 2016 conviction for the racially aggravated harassment of then-Labour MP Luciana Berger, who is Jewish. During that harassment, he posted blog messages calling her a "rodent" and an "evil money-grabber." He also has prior convictions for assaulting a police officer, burglary, and malicious communications.

In the days leading up to his withdrawal, Badenoch publicly defended the selection, arguing Bonehill-Paine...