Ex neo-Nazi activist selected as Tory candidate

A man who was jailed over his neo-Nazi activism will stand as a Tory candidate in council elections after being offered a "second chance" by the party.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine spent three years in prison for posting antisemitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally and a year later he was also convicted of racially harassing then-Labour MP Luciana Berger.

Bonehill-Payne has been selected to stand in the new Somerset Council seat of Crewkerne South in 2027. He said he wanted to "give back" to a community which had supported him.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said he had "shown contrition for his crimes" but the Board of Deputies of British Jews said the move "beggars belief".

Bonehill-Paine, who was behind the online satirical project The Crewkerne Gazette, also holds previous convictions for assaulting a police officer, burglary of a police station and malicious communications.

Badenoch said: "He is spending every day working to solve the very problem which he knew he had caused previously.

"He's going up and down the country training people and the Conservative Party believes in second chances.

"This is not just someone that we've picked up who is a convicted criminal - this is somebody who is actively working to help communities, especially Jewish communities."