The Conservative Party has selected Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a convicted former neo-Nazi activist, as its candidate for the new Crewkerne South seat on Somerset Council in the 2027 elections.
Bonehill-Paine was jailed for more than three years in 2015 for distributing antisemitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally and was later convicted of racially aggravated harassment against then-Labour MP Luciana Berger, who said the case "still haunts" her. He also pleaded guilty in 2014 to malicious communications over an anti-Islam hoax. Bonehill-Paine has said he reformed his views after learning of the murder of MP Jo Cox. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch defended the selection, citing his rehabilitation and the party's belief in second chances.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews has called on the Conservatives to drop him, while Reform UK accused the Tory leadership of hypocrisy and Liberal Democrat and Labour representatives also condemned the choice.