Joshua Bonehill-Paine will be standing for the Conservatives in the new Crewkerne South seat in the upcoming Somerset Council elections on May 6, 2027. The Tory leader said Mr Bonehill-Paine had been rehabilitated and now worked to tackle racism and antisemitism. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, told BBC Radio 4’s Today: "I’m not giving him a national platform, he is standing to be a councillor in Somerset… it is a local platform looking at parking, sorting out bins. Labour peer harassed by Tory candidate criticises selectionBaroness Luciana Berger criticised the decision to select Joshua Bonehill-Paine to fight the Crewkerne South division of Somerset next May. Mr Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016, after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment against Lady Berger, who is Jewish.