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Politics28 outlets ran this4 min read

Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite far-right convictions

Kemi Badenoch defends the choice of a man jailed for racially aggravated harassment of Jewish MP Luciana Berger

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.

What this story says

  • Joshua Bonehill-Paine, convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Jewish MP Luciana Berger and malicious communications, was selected as a Conservative candidate for Somerset Council.
  • Kemi Badenoch defended the selection, stating the party believes in second chances and that Bonehill-Paine is certified by the Home Office to train police on antisemitism.
  • Luciana Berger, now a Labour peer, criticised the decision, calling it a mistake and stating she remains haunted by his actions.
  • No centre-rated outlet reported on the story, leaving a gap in coverage between left and right-leaning publications.

Who covered it

Left 39%(10)Centre 38%(10)Right 23%(6)

Percentages are shares of the 26 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 28 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

62/100

Craft

95/100

Hype

30/100

28 sources · methodology

Missing from the right

Only 6 of the 26 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

A reader who follows the right would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

The Conservative Party selected Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a candidate for Somerset Council in the upcoming local elections. Bonehill-Paine was convicted in 2014 of malicious communications over an anti-Islam hoax that led to death threats against pub owners in Leicester. In 2015, he was jailed for more than three years for posting antisemitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally. The following year, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment of Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger.

Bonehill-Paine founded and led the far-right group National British Resistance. Despite his convictions, the Conservatives chose him to stand in Crewkerne South. Party leader Kemi Badenoch defended the decision, stating that Bonehill-Paine has shown contrition, been rehabilitated, and is certified by the Home Office to train police officers on antisemitism and countering extremism.

Luciana Berger, now a Labour peer, criticised Badenoch’s decision. In a post on X, she wrote: "Kemi Badenoch, you’ve got this very, very wrong." Berger added that she remains haunted by Bonehill-Paine’s actions. The Labour Party called the selection a disgrace, stating it revealed the Conservative Party’s extremism and disconnect from the public.

What the coverage left out

No centre-rated outlet reported on the story. None of the digests from the left-rated outlets mentioned Bonehill-Paine’s Home Office certification to train police on antisemitism, a detail carried only in HuffPost UK’s full report. The right-rated digest from The Jewish Chronicle did not include Badenoch’s defence of the selection or Bonehill-Paine’s claims of rehabilitation.

Tags:#UKPolitics#Antisemitism#LocalElections#FarRight#ConservativeParty

Coverage settled. We checked this 16 times and stopped on 9 Aug 2026, 15:30. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

10 rated outlets

  • The five left-rated reports led on Joshua Bonehill-Paine’s far-right convictions and the controversy over his selection as a Conservative candidate. HuffPost UK’s full report detailed his history of antisemitic harassment, including his imprisonment and his founding of the National British Resistance. It quoted Luciana Berger’s criticism of Badenoch and included reactions from the Labour Party and Jewish organisations, such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which called for his selection to be rescinded.
  • The digests from The National, Metro News, The London Economic, and The Independent all mentioned Bonehill-Paine’s convictions for racially aggravated harassment of Berger and his far-right activism. Metro News added that he currently produces AI-generated video content. The London Economic described him as a former far-right activist who had served prison time for antisemitic abuse. The Independent’s digest noted his conviction for harassing Berger.
  • HuffPost UK’s report included Badenoch’s defence of Bonehill-Paine, quoting her directly: "the Conservative Party believes in second chances" and noting his Home Office certification to train police on antisemitism. The report also carried reactions from Reform UK, which called the selection hypocritical, and from Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, who described Bonehill-Paine’s antisemitism as extreme.

Centre

10 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports agree that Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi with multiple convictions, has been selected as the Conservative candidate for Crewkerne South in the 2027 Somerset local elections. All four outlets note his 2015 imprisonment for antisemitic communications and his subsequent rehabilitation efforts, including Home Office certifications in counter-extremism.
  • The Bristol Post and Somerset Live led on Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s defence of the selection, quoting her statement that Bonehill-Paine had shown contrition and was actively working to address extremism. The BBC and Somerset County Gazette digests did not include Badenoch’s remarks. The Bristol Post’s report carried Bonehill-Paine’s campaign statement in full, framing his candidacy as a response to local grievances over housing, transport, and SEND provision.
  • None of the centre-rated digests mentioned Bonehill-Paine’s 2014 conviction for malicious communications or his 2016 racially aggravated harassment of Luciana Berger. The Bristol Post’s full report included these details, along with his role as creator of the Crewkerne Gazette, a Facebook page posting AI-generated political satire.

Right

6 rated outlets

  • The five right-rated digests agree that the Conservative Party selected Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a local council candidate in Somerset despite his past convictions for far-right activity. All note his history as a former neo-Nazi activist and his imprisonment for antisemitic harassment.
  • Four of the digests lead on Kemi Badenoch’s role: three report her defence of the selection, while GB News highlights Bonehill-Paine’s withdrawal after backlash. The Jewish Chronicle and VINnews include reactions from Jewish leaders, with VINnews specifying that the Board of Deputies and the chief rabbi declined to meet him.
  • None of the digests mention Luciana Berger’s exact words beyond her criticism of the decision. The National Pulse and Daily Express do not include Bonehill-Paine’s withdrawal, while the others report it as a later development.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite…?
Of the 26 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 39% are rated left, 38% are rated centre, 23% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 28. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 26 rated outlets on this story, 39% are rated left, 38% are rated centre, 23% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite… biased?
Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite far-right convictions is one event reported by 28 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine as council candidate despite…?
28 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What was Joshua Bonehill-Paine convicted of?
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was convicted in 2014 of malicious communications over an anti-Islam hoax and in 2016 of racially aggravated harassment of Jewish MP Luciana Berger. He was jailed in 2015 for posting antisemitic material online ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally. These convictions were reported by HuffPost UK and corroborated in digests from other outlets.
Why did Kemi Badenoch defend Joshua Bonehill-Paine’s selection?
Kemi Badenoch defended the selection by stating the Conservative Party believes in second chances. She claimed Bonehill-Paine has shown contrition, been rehabilitated, and is certified by the Home Office to train police on antisemitism and countering extremism. This defence was reported by HuffPost UK.
Which outlets reported on the story?
The story was reported by five left-rated outlets, HuffPost UK, The National, Metro News, The London Economic, and The Independent, and one right-rated outlet, The Jewish Chronicle. No centre-rated outlet covered the selection of Joshua Bonehill-Paine as a Conservative candidate.

Read it at the source

28 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

10
Show 2 more

Centre

10
Show 2 more

Right

6

Not rated

2

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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Conservatives select Joshua Bonehill-Paine for Somerset Council | MediaBias News