Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former antisemite selected by the Conservatives to contest a council election next year, has withdrawn his candidacy and been offered an advisory role
A controversial former neo-Nazi turned Tory advisor – after he sensationally quit as a local election candidate – claimed he had passed Reform’s vetting checks..
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was found guilty in 2016 of racially aggravated harassment against Jewish Labour peer Luciana Berger, after writing several blog posts about the Baroness, who was a MP at the time. Bonehill-Paine previously dubbed himself a “nationalist, fascist, theorist and supporter of white rights” but said he has since “worked to combat antisemitism and extremism”.
Bonehill-Paine withdrew his Tory candidacy for a council election, for the Crewkerne South ward in Somerset, next year amid intense scrutiny at Kemi Badenoch’s support for the former antisemite. Badenoch has instead offered him an advisor role in her party. Bonehill-Paine has said he now works to combat antisemitism and holds Home Office certification for counter-extremism work.
Reform MP Nigel Farage criticised the Conservatives decision to run the candidate, before he quit only for Bonehill Paine to post an email which appeared to show he had passed Reform’s vetting process.
Farage responded to a post on X about the then-candidate and wrote: “Is this part of the “new generation” of Conservative candidates @KemiBadenoch is promising?” This post was flagged with a community note which claimed Reform “invited” Bonehill-Paine to stand for their party in these local elections.
Bonehill-Paine replied to Farage with a screenshot of an email to himself from Reform UK which thanked the former neo-Nazi for applying to be local election candidate. The email also said: “We are pleased to inform you that you have successfully passed out vetting checks.”
In the post, Bonehill-Paine said he “foolishly” applied to become a Reform councillor and “even passed vetting and security”. A spokesperson for Reform claimed Bonehill-Paine applied under a different name and did not disclose his criminal record to them.
Bonehill-Paine also shared what he claimed to be another email from Reform’s Yeovil branch which appeared to show the head of the local group asking him, in June, if he would like to meet to discuss potentially running on the ballot under Reform. He replied to a post by 20-year-old Reform Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch, who posted an article on the former neo-Nazi and wrote: “This is the ‘reborn’ Conservative Party. Shocking.”
The then-Conservative candidate replied and wrote: “Reform were begging me to stand as a councillor. I told them where to go and chose the better party.”
He also claimed to receive an email from Reform UK Yeovil chairman which said: “You have previously said you would be interested in standing as a candidate for Reform UK. If this is still the case I would like to meet with you to discuss further.”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “Mr Bonehill-Paine applied to be a candidate under a different name and failed to disclose his criminal record during the vetting process. Ultimately, he was never selected as a Reform UK candidate – unlike the Conservative Party who knew about his self-professed fascist views all along.”
Bonehill-Paine quit as the Tory candidate for the local elections on Wednesday afternoon but revealed he was offered a role as an advisor for the party. He said: “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.
“I have therefore informed the Party of my decision to withdraw from next year’s council election and Kemi has instead offered that I become an advisor to the Conservative Party’s Culture and Integration Commission, specifically focusing on how young men become radicalised.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she was “sad” that Mr Bonehill-Paine “won’t be given the space to explain his position and represent his community”.
She added that he would now work with the Conservatives on tackling radicalisation as part of the party’s culture and integration commission. She said: “If we are going to stop extremism and antisemitism we are going to need help from those people who were part of the problem, but have now changed and are being part of the solution. Piling on them and trying to get them cancelled may be sport for other parties, but this is a different Conservative Party.”
Following Bonehill-Paine’s advisor announcement, a Reform UK spokesperson said: “It beggars belief that Kemi Badenoch has hired a former neo-Nazi. Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a self-professed fascist who has been jailed for publishing antisemitic material, will now have a say over national Conservative Party policy. This is alarming news for the Jewish community in Britain.”
Mr Bonehill-Paine’s selection to contest the Crewkerne South ward in Somerset next May prompted a storm of criticism from Jewish groups and opposition politicians. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council called for the party to change course, while Labour peer Baroness Luciana Berger said he should not have “any role in public life – because of both his racism and his view of women”.
This comes hours after Baroness Berger hit out at the Conservatives for their decision to run Bonehill-Paine as a candidate and told Badenoch she had “got this very, very wrong”. The Labour peer, on BBC Radio 4, said: “There’s a big difference between going back into society and teaching others possibly about what you did and why it was wrong, to making the leap to standing for public office.”
Bonehill-Paine is also the person behind the viral satirical website the Crewkerne Gazette, which posts AI-generated videos of politicians. It has more than 40,000 followers on X and more than 50,000 on YouTube.
Bonehill-Paine, in 2014, was convicted on a malicious communication charge after admitting launching an internet hoax claiming a Leicester pub had refused to serve British armed forces members to avoid upsetting the local immigrant community. He was spared jail and handed a community order.
In a separate incident, in 2014, he was also convicted and jailed for more than three years for inciting racial hatred after promoting a neo-Nazi rally in Golders Green, north London. Bonehill-Paine told the Guardian that his convictions have been spent and he holds “Home Office certification for my counter-extremism work”. He added that for the past eight years he has “worked to combat antisemitism and extremism”.
Bonehill-Paine was convicted of racially harassing Baroness Berger after publishing five disturbing hate-filled blog posts about her, in which described the then-MP for Liverpool Waverley as “a dominatrix” and “a rodent”. He also said she was “an evil money-grabber” with a “deep-rooted hatred of men”.
He was jailed in 2016 for two years, and the judge imposed a criminal behaviour order which allowed police to monitor his internet activity for five years after his release. Bonehill-Paine has responded by saying he now works to combat antisemitism and extremism.
In a statement, Bonehill-Paine said: “Eight years ago, I made the decision to confront and combat antisemitism. I felt enormous grief and shame over the way I had treated Jewish people in this country. What I did was utterly indefensible and there can be no excuses for it.
“Since then, I have come to know many people within the Jewish community and have dedicated myself to challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face. That is a commitment I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”