Labour peer Luciana Berger has urged Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch to reverse her decision to give a national advisory role to Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi. Ms Berger called on Ms Badenoch to "listen to victims" regarding the appointment to the Conservative party's culture and integration commission.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2015 for over three years for posting antisemitic material online. In 2016, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for abuse directed at Ms Berger, who was an MP at the time. He also founded and led the far-right group, National British Resistance.
Ms Berger questioned the safeguarding checks carried out by Ms Badenoch and the Conservative party for the appointment. She also asked if the new role could bring Bonehill-Paine to Westminster, though a spokesperson for Ms Badenoch stated he would not have a parliamentary pass or be on the estate.
Ms Badenoch had previously published a defence of Bonehill-Paine in The Times, describing questions about his suitability as a "pile-on." She stated that the Conservative party under her leadership is the "party of personal responsibility and law and order," and that it should recognise rehabilitation.
A spokesperson for Ms Badenoch said Bonehill-Paine had served his sentence, completed Home Office Prevent courses, and taught about combatting antisemitism and extremism in schools. However, the party did not answer questions regarding specific safeguarding checks or why Ms Badenoch had not contacted Ms Berger.