Labour Peer Urges Minister to Reverse Ex-Neo-Nazi's Advisory Role

Labour peer Luciana Berger has implored Minister Kemi Badenoch to reconsider appointing a former neo-Nazi, Joshua Bonehill-Paine, to a national advisory role, urging her to "listen to victims."

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People need to understand that the Conservative party under my leadership is now the party of personal responsibility and law and order. That means insisting on consequences by punishing wrongdoing and protecting the public, especially victims.

Bonehill-Paine, who founded and led the far-right group National British Resistance, was imprisoned in 2015 for distributing antisemitic material and planning a neo-Nazi rally. In 2016, he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment for targeting Berger, who was a Member of Parliament at the time. Berger revealed that his crimes still affect her over nine years later and questioned the vetting process for his appointment to the Conservative party's culture and integration commission.

Berger expressed concern about Bonehill-Paine potentially accessing Westminster in his new capacity, asking if she might encounter him on the parliamentary estate. A spokesperson for Badenoch clarified that Bonehill-Paine would not receive a parliamentary pass and would not be present on the estate.

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Badenoch makes one passing reference to the ‘victims’. There were many. And I was one of them. Did Badenoch read the judge’s sentencing remarks? In court we heard the victim impact statements from people unable to testify, whose lives he had destroyed.

Badenoch had previously defended the decision in The Times, characterizing criticism of Bonehill-Paine's suitability for a councillor role as a "pile-on." She asserted that under her leadership, the Conservative party prioritizes personal responsibility and law and order, emphasizing consequences for wrongdoing and public protection. Berger, however, criticized Badenoch's defense for making only a passing reference to victims, stating that many, including herself, were affected by his actions and that their victim impact statements detailed lives he had destroyed.

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His appointment as an adviser to the Conservative party’s culture and integration commission could conceivably bring him to Westminster. Can I expect to come face to face with him on the parliamentary estate? It’s still not too late for Badenoch to listen to victims and reverse her decision.