A former neo-Nazi activist who had been chose as the Conservative Party candidate in a council election next year has withdrawn following a backlash against his selection.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine had been selected to stand as the Tory candidate for election to Somerset council next year in a new Crewkerne South district.
In 2015, Bonehill-Paine was sentenced to three years behind bars for posting anti-Semitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally and the following year was convicted of racially harassing then-Labour MP Luciana Berger.
The decision to select him as a Tory council candidate had been defended by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who said Bonehill-Paine had been rehabilitated and deserved a second chance.
But on Wednesday, Bonehill-Paine announced he had withdrawn his candidacy, saying that opposition parties would “spend all their time focusing on my past rather than the work I’m doing today”.
He wrote in a post on X: “I know that my previous actions continue to cause pain in the Jewish community. I had thought that getting involved in my local council and working hard for my community was a good way to show how much I have changed and that I want to give something back.
“I realise now that the fight against antisemitism is something that I actually need to do more of, I need to show the Jewish community how much I regret my previous actions and how hard I will work to fight to help destroy anti-semitism and rebuild trust.”
He continued: “While I cannot change my past, I can warn others away from the same destructive path. I know how this ideology works because I lived inside it.
“I also know that if I stand as a council candidate, other political parties will spend all their time focusing on my past rather than the work I’m doing today, or even fighting antisemitism in their own midst.
“Rather than standing as a local council candidate, I believe that my experience is better used supporting Kemi Badenoch in her ongoing mission to combat the antisemitism and extremism that is dividing our nation.”
Bonehill-Paine added that Badenoch had offered him a position as an adviser to the party’s Culture and Integration Commission, focusing “on how young men become radicalised”.
Bonehill-Paine’s selection had been criticised by Baroness Berger in a Substack essay on Wednesday, whilst the Tories had also come under fire from opposition parties for the decision.
Bonehill-Paine is the creator of the Crewkerne Gazette, a satirical online account that shares AI sketches about British politics, and an executive member of the Tories’ Yeovil branch, working as an events organiser.
The Guardian reported on his selection as Tory candidate this week, and said Bonehill-Paine had previously described himself as a “nationalist, fascist, theorist and supporter of white rights,” but has since worked to “combat antisemitism and extremism.”
Bonehill-Paine has previously apologised for his past, describing his past views as “indefensible.”
He told Somerset Live earlier this year that he is “deeply sorry” for his comments about Baroness Berger.