Berger slams Badenoch over selection of ex neo-Nazi candidate who targeted her
In a post on X, Jewish peer said Tory leader had 'got this very, very wrong' after Joshua Bonehill-Paine was confirmed as a Tory council candidate
Labour peer Luciana Berger has strongly criticised Kemi Badenoch over her defence of the selection as a Tory local election candidate of a former neo-Nazi convicted for racially harassing her.
Reacting on X, Berger expressed her outrage at confirmation that Joshua Bonehill-Paine had been selected to stand for the Tories in Somerset.
“Just woke up to find Kemi Badenoch is allowing this guy as a Tory candidate,” posted Berger.
“He was convicted for racial harassment for five specific blogs. But that wasn’t all—he’d published reams of deeply racist, misogynistic, and pornographic material about me.”
Berger then recalled how ahe was six months pregnant when she testified at the Old Bailey, described the ordeal as “two days of hell.”
“I count myself lucky though,” she added. “There were other victims whose lives he had totally destroyed. Victim impact statements in court revealed some could no longer work or maintain relationships with partners and family because of his campaign of hate.”
Bonehill-Paine was jailed for three years in 2015 for posting “vile” antisemitic material online before a planned neo-Nazi rally.
In December 2016, he was convicted at the Old Bailey of racially aggravated harassment after writing five hate-filled blogs about Berger, including calling her “an evil money-grabber” and claiming the number of Jewish Labour MPs was a “problem.”
Berger continued on X:”He showed zero contrition and thought it was acceptable to do a full-blown Nazi salute to his supporters in the gallery.
“This case still haunts me. I feel sick reading commentators debate his selection today and say that ‘these are precisely the people we need in public office.'”
She concluded: “For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t believe this man should have any role in public life—because of both his racism and his view of women. Kemi Badenoch, you’ve got this very, very wrong.”
Asked why he had now been selected as a candidate in Somerset’s Crewkerne South district, Badenoch earlier told reporters: “I want to be very clear, and I think people can look at me and know that I’m not a person who would be recruiting neo-Nazis.
“Josh is someone who actually has been certified by the Home Office to train police officers on antisemitism and on countering extremism.
“Yes, he is somebody who had been previously convicted, but he is someone who has shown contrition for his crimes, has been rehabilitated and 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.”