Badenoch defends selection of ex neo-Nazi as Tory candidate

Kemi Badenoch has defended the selection of a former neo-Nazi who was jailed for inciting racial hatred as a Conservative council candidate. The Tory leader said her party “believes in second chances” after Jewish organisations criticised the selection of Joshua Bonehill-Paine for a Somerset council seat. Baroness Berger of Barnhill, the former Labour MP victimised by Bonehill-Paine, has also criticised the decision and told Mrs Badenoch that it was “very, very wrong”. The 34-year-old – who now campaigns against extremism and anti-Semitism – was jailed for three years in 2015 after posting “vile” anti-Semitic comments online promoting a planned “anti-Jewification” march in Golders Green, north London. He created a poster for the event using an image of Auschwitz and said the rally would be “an absolute gas”. A year later he was sentenced for a further two years after he was found guilty of harassing Lady Berger, then the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree. Lady Berger, who is Jewish, quit the party over its handling of anti-Semitism under Jeremy Corbyn before later rejoining.