Would you want this ex neo Nazi, internet troll, misogynist, racist ex con on your council?

[DorsetMermaid]

Kemi Badenoch says he deserves a second chance. Would you want him on your council?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1l1q6167d3o

Sorry I thought I'd read that in his statement but I may have got that wrong. I definitely read it somewhere, but can't find it now. Either the DT or The Times said he was a Reform member, but switched to Conservatives as he admired Kemi's leadership. I'll keep looking and post here if I find it again.

Found it.
Bonehill-Paine revealed he left Reform UK last year and decided to join the Tories as a result of Mrs Badenoch’s leadership.He had applied and passed vetting to stand as a Reform council candidate but decided to terminate his application last November and switch allegiances.He said: “Reform were begging me to stand as a councillor. I told them where to go and chose the better party.”https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/2db21cb0dbf2918a

A better party for his neo nazi views?

Have seen he's still posting Crewkerne News and one of the videos, awful AI generated, shows Badenoch doing a sort of Lara Croft move on Burnham and knocking him down in an attack. WTF is that all about?

I don't know what's true about him being a member of Reform. 🤷‍♂️

I haven't watched any of his videos since I learned of his history. I don't look at much SM so I'm behind the curve.

The video referenced in my post was shown on Channel 4 news tonight. About half an hour ago. Bizarre.

Aha, thanks for that source.

And sorry, re-reading I can see my post came across all dubious.

It wasn't you I was dubious at! I was at Bonehill-Paine!

I didn't take it that way. I like to be thorough and don't like to post anything that I can't back up. You were right to question it as I was wrong to link it to his statement.

Sources always good!

Especially when talking about folk like JB-P, for whom nothing is too weird...

It's absolutely beyond me why Badenoch or the party think he's worth the risk.

As he's declared his personal fandom of Badenoch, perhaps we have an explanation for her ill-advised support of him.

ETA: x-posted, @Piccly ! But perhaps it answers your Q!

Agree. I mean, I accept that his work in talking to young men about his lived experience of becoming radicalised may have benefit in a grass roots kind of way.
But its not going to be anything the government doesnt know already. They have access to a wealth of intelligence from experts in the field, including countless case studies and anecdota from people just like him to understand the pyscological and sociological risk factors, how people are groomed etc.
And given he's supposedly not been involved for over a decade he's hardly going to have a finger on the pulse.
The job can only be an incentive to step down to save Badenoch's skin.

I can't work it out, but my best guess is that Kemi genuinely believes him, and thinks that he has something to offer in the fight against anti semitism.
I don't agree with her decision to back him like she has, but I do think she cares about the Jewish community. Its a strange position for her to take.

I think caring about the Jewish community can be shown in better ways. It is political suicide for Badenoch. She made a meal out of Starmer over Mandelson's appointment. Yet she goes and backs an allegedly reformed neo Nazi.
It's such an awful decision.

She actually had the gall to compare it with Haigh’s phone on R4. Bloody unbelievable.

Comparing this saga to Louise Haigh's phone shambles is even more batshit. Not even in the same league. Perhaps someone slipped something in her tea? Because I just think it's totally batshit what she's doing.😐

Was there really nobody else they could select as their candidate? There’s scraping the barrel and then there’s “WTAF were you thinking?”

The whole thing is bizarre. I can't understand it at all. Is there any chance the Badenochs have some connection to his family? There seems to be a lot of gaps about his background.

She's leader of the opposition. There must be hundreds of selections for candidates in council elections. And she chooses to support the selection of the ex neo nazi. Bonkers.

Edit in bold

The violent, antisemitic, misogynist, nazi criminal, Joshua Bonehill-Paine has exposed Kemi Badenoch as weak and now stands to profit at her hand?🤯

He played her, and the Conservative Party like a fiddle 🎻 .

Years ago my mother told me:
Don't waste your time, energy or reputation defending a man.
He wouldn't do it for you.
Chances are he's done those things and is that person.
And, again, he wouldn't do it for you.

It took me some time and experience🙈😳 to understand what she meant.

I work and socialise with 100s of people. Many working in complex fields public facing roles doing interesting, challenging work. None of them are beige or people pleasing. None of them have been called a nazi or racist. You need to hang out with/follow/work/listen to better people.

I'm not sympathising with him or defending him. I was replying to PP who said that people should be allowed to rehabilitate and fully resume life to say its not that straightforward when there are victims to consider.
I can't see the value he would bring at an advisory level. Anything he can offer about his radicalisation will be well known to them already. And it's beyond convenient that the Tories need this advice at just the time they need him to step down.
It could well be calculated on his part to cause disruption. But tbh, he's less of a worry. We know people like him are out there. The issue is, we have a right to expect our political representatives to put our interests ahead of theirs and protect people from them.
The real concern here is that the leader of a mainstream party failed so spectacularly, and can't see what she's done wrong.
It's a frightening sign of the way the Overton Window has shifted with regards to tolerance of the extreme right.

Yes. This is exactly it. Since when did terrorising members of the Jewish community become on a par with getting a new works mobile under false pretences? I understand she's trying to distract with whataboutery, but making such a ridiculous comparison adds further offence.
I don't know whether that's just another huge error on her part, desperate straw clutching, or if she genuinely believes the situations stand comparison. If the second, its deeply concerning.

I think with that comparison she jumped the shark. Although I was never going to agree with her I could see why her admirers felt as they did and she was making progress in turning round perception of her party. She’s just thrown that away and exposed her judgement to be bizarrely flawed. Even if she genuinely believes in retribution and forgiveness, to throw her political capital away on an issue of little or no benefit to her will always throw her judgment into question now.

I see that she’s now calling Reform “woke” which seems equally bizarre.