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Kemi Badenoch says former neo-Nazi candidate should be able to stand as a councillor but not an MP
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Luciana Berger, the Jewish former Labour MP who was subjected to a campaign of abuse by a former neo-Nazi has condemned Badenoch’s decision to now allow him to stand as a Conservative candidate.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was sentenced to three years and four months in prison in 2015 for harassing Berger.
In a post on X yesterday, Berger said Badenoch had got the decision “very, very wrong”.
Berger pointed out that Bonehill-Paine had engaged “in a sustained campaign not just against me, but many others”.
Badenoch also argued that it was fine for Bonehill-Paine to stand as a councillor in Somerset, but that there is a higher threshold for people to stand as Conservative parliamentary candidates.