LONDON (Reuters) : The leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party defended the selection of a former neo-Nazi who had been jailed for hate crimes as a local election candidate, saying on Wednesday that he was rehabilitated and could help fight antisemitism. His selection ‌as a ‌candidate for an election to Somerset council in south-west ‌England ⁠drew condemnation from ⁠other parties and Jewish groups. Badenoch said what he did was “appalling” but he had disavowed his previous views and was fit to run for a local council, where he would be “looking at parking, sorting out bins.” Badenoch partly defended Bonehill-Paine’s selection by citing Labour’s selection of a former Nazi at a local election in 2012. Advocacy groups the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council declined an invitation to meet with Bonehill-Paine and urged the Conservatives to rescind their selection.