Badenoch Offers Ex-neo-nazi Activist Advisory Role

Joshua Bonehill-Paine announced on Wednesday he would not stand in next year's Somerset council elections in the new Crewkerne South district, saying his experience was better used supporting Badenoch's mission to combat antisemitism and extremism. The Tory leader said she was "sad" that Bonehill-Paine felt he would not be given space to explain his position, adding that tackling extremism requires help from those who were part of the problem but have changed. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council both declined meetings with Bonehill-Paine, who was jailed in 2015 for posting vile antisemitic material and convicted in 2016 of racially aggravated harassment of then-Labour MP Luciana Berger, now a member of the House of Lords. Berger had told Badenoch directly that Bonehill-Paine should have no role in public life due to his racism and views on women.