Jewish leaders turn down meeting with Conservative council candidate jailed for antisemitism
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have said they will meet the Conservative Party to discuss the selection of a former neo-Nazi as a council candidate, but declined to meet Joshua Bonehill-Paine himself.
In a joint statement, the two groups said:
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have declined the Conservative party’s invitation to meet with a former neo-Nazi with criminal convictions for antisemitic hatred.
The severity of Joshua Bonehill-Paine’s crimes targeting Luciana Berger and others mean that he still faces ongoing legal restrictions.
Whilst we do believe in the possibility of rehabilitation, this should not in this case entail selection as a candidate for a major political party, and the impact of this decision on the victims ought to be a central consideration.
We have agreed to meet the Conservative party to discuss their decision-making processes and to urge them to rescind this decision.
Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Labour peer Luciana Berger, who is Jewish.
He was previously jailed for producing an advert for a neo-Nazi rally illustrated with a picture of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz which promised “an absolute gas”.
He has since apologised for his past offending, and said he has now dedicated himself to “challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face”.
Key events
The government is not “actively” considering an inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s UK activities, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson has confirmed.
They said that while the department was “reviewing what is possible” and would “look at all options to support victims”, a public inquiry was “not being actively considered”.
Lisa O’Carroll
A former Conservative MP who quit after his attempts to secure a soft Brexit were blocked is proposing a new European confederation to bring the UK, Ukraine and others closer to the EU.
In a paper for think tank Demos, Nick Boles argues for the transformation of the existing European Political Community (EPC) into a new European confederation – a treaty-based body distinct from the EU, open to both EU and non-EU states alike.
The EPC, the brainchild of Emmanuel Macron, was launched four years ago in Prague and brings together leaders of 40 European states including the 27 EU member states.
It is designed to give those outside the EU, from Georgia, Albania and the Balkans to Iceland and Norway, a means of meeting other leaders twice yearly without a secretariat or agenda.
Boles suggests the EPC could not be elevated into a formal structure bound by treaties giving participants participation in the single market, an expansive youth mobility scheme and Nato-style mutual defence guarantees, instead of the EU’s mutual assistance guarantees without Schengen membership or Eurozone participation.
The most challenging part of his proposal is participation in “the single market”, something the EU will not allow access to without partner countries accepting free movement of people as well as goods, pretty much one of the red lines of the turbulent Brexit debates running up to December 2020.
Instead of a referendum, the proposal suggests holding a citizens assembly ahead of seeking the mandate through a general election manifesto to build democratic legitimacy.
Boles says he hopes his 21-page paper “triggers a debate, not just in Britain but in Ukraine and across Europe and that others, with greater expertise and political clout than me, will pick up the baton and run with it”.
Many see the change in Labour leadership and the appointment of a new Europe minister, Hamish Falconer, as an opportunity to reimagine and energise the EU-UK reset talks which some EU diplomats felt had lost momentum in recent months.
Polanski criticises ‘egregious, grotesque’ profits being made from climate crisis
Zack Polanski has been speaking in London this morning, where the leader of the Green party of England and Wales called on prime minister Andy Burnham to take more action over the climate crisis.
Appearing alongside British naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham, Polanski said “I wish people were talking about the climate crisis every day” and suggested that Burnham should have called a Cobra meeting over wildfires.
He emphasised the real effects of the latest heatwave, saying “Over the last few days and weeks, we’ve seen shocking scenes of wildfires and the report of 3,000 heat-related deaths. That is a number that can easily get lost, but I think we need to sit with that reality: 3,000 people have died because of extreme heat.”
He said that tackling the crisis needed to be linked back to the cost of living, saying “If people are worried that tackling the climate crisis will come off the backs of working people, I share that worry. It does not need to be that way.
“We need to recognise that BP doubled their profits during the US-Iran war, and that Barclays’ profits have gone up by a third – while advising clients on how to profit from extreme heat. That is egregious, grotesque, and needs to be called out.”
Polanski also criticised media coverage of the climate crisis, saying “I can call [the crisis] out as a political leader, but you also have a role to play.”
He continued, saying “I know some of you do – this isn’t a blanket condemnation of the media, as we have journalists doing brilliant work. But the contrast between how much we hear about whatever Nigel Farage or Reform want to talk about versus how little we hear about the climate and nature crisis is pretty glaring.”
Polanski on Conservative antisemitism row: ‘I don’t believe anyone should be pushed out of public life permanently’
Zack Polanski has entered the fray over Kemi Badenoch defending the decision to allow a man jailed for antisemitism to stand as councillor for the Conservatives.
PA Media reports that the leader of the Green party of England and Wales said he did not believe “anyone should be pushed out of public life permanently.”
He is quoted as saying that, while he didn’t know the specifics of this case and so was “going to be careful about wading in”, he thinks “someone can say something or even do something and make a mistake. Now, I think the important point is that we don’t just apologise and move on, there has to be a clear recognition of what they did wrong and what they’re going to do in the future to rectify it.”
Polanski continued “I don’t believe anyone should be pushed out of public life permanently. I do believe that there has to be spaces for people to rehabilitate, no matter what they say or no matter how heinous what they do is.”
Luciana Berger, who was targeted by Joshua Bonehill-Paine in a campaign of antisemitic abusein 2016, said he fell short of the bar for standing for public office. She said she lived today with the “profound and deep impacts” of those events.
Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2015 for more than three years after posting antisemitic material online before a planned neo-Nazi rally. In 2016, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for abuse directed at Berger. He also has a conviction for assaulting a police officer and burglary of a police station.
Geneva Abdul has this piece looking at Andy Burnham detailing his wife Marie-France van Heel’s reaction to his third Labour leadership bid – “not again, they’ve told you twice they don’t want you” – in a new podcast interview.
Women must not feel pressure to have ‘ideal birth’, says Yvette Cooper
Jessica Elgot
Women should not feel pressurised into experiencing an “ideal birth”, the new health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said, promising a root-and-branch reform of standards after several damning maternity scandals.
Cooper, who returns to the department 27 years after she was the minister for public health under Tony Blair, said maternity and child health would be a major focus in the role, where she will also be expected to implement significant reforms to social care.
In an interview with the Guardian, she said the culture change should address any pressure on women to have a particular kind of birth experience, after families have repeatedly raised the alarm about an unwillingness by some maternity units to escalate interventions because of a desire for more natural births.
“I would worry about any mum feeling pressurised that there is somehow a kind of an ideal birth experience to live up to when it’s always different in every case, and you have to follow the evidence, you have to have informed choice,” she said.
In one of her first acts as health secretary, Cooper said she intended to re-introduce binding national maternity standards, which were dismantled under the early Conservative NHS reforms and replaced with fragmented trust-by-trust practices.
Jewish leaders turn down meeting with Conservative council candidate jailed for antisemitism
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have said they will meet the Conservative Party to discuss the selection of a former neo-Nazi as a council candidate, but declined to meet Joshua Bonehill-Paine himself.
In a joint statement, the two groups said:
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council have declined the Conservative party’s invitation to meet with a former neo-Nazi with criminal convictions for antisemitic hatred.
The severity of Joshua Bonehill-Paine’s crimes targeting Luciana Berger and others mean that he still faces ongoing legal restrictions.
Whilst we do believe in the possibility of rehabilitation, this should not in this case entail selection as a candidate for a major political party, and the impact of this decision on the victims ought to be a central consideration.
We have agreed to meet the Conservative party to discuss their decision-making processes and to urge them to rescind this decision.
Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2016 after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of Labour peer Luciana Berger, who is Jewish.
He was previously jailed for producing an advert for a neo-Nazi rally illustrated with a picture of Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz which promised “an absolute gas”.
He has since apologised for his past offending, and said he has now dedicated himself to “challenging the wave of hatred British Jews continue to face”.
Burnham not considering public inquiry into UK activities of Jeffrey Epstein
Aletha Adu
Andy Burnham is not actively considering a public inquiry into the actions of Jeffrey Epstein in the UK, despite claims to the contrary, it is understood.
The victims’ minister, Alex Davies-Jones, said on Tuesday had the prime minister had agreed to meet Epstein’s victims, was “looking into” an inquiry and was “taking this very seriously”. A separate inquiry into the alleged actions of the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed is also being considered. But the Guardian understands a public inquiry is not being actively considered by No 10.
Davies-Jones told BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, when asked if a public inquiry was on the table: “We are looking into this, we are reviewing what is possible … same with Harrods survivors. We already have a statutory inquiry under way for the grooming gangs victims. I have been assured that the prime minister is taking this very seriously.
“He will meet with those victims and he is looking at what is possible, now he has access to all of the information as prime minister, to see … what action we can take.”
Haroon Siddique
An official investigation has been launched into charities in England and Wales donating funds to illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.
The Charity Commission will aim to establish the amount of charitable funds going to illegal settlements, whether the spending was in furtherance of their purposes and any regulatory action that may be necessary.
The investigation follows the Guardian’s reporting about the issue. Last year, it revealed that two UK charities had transferred approximately £5.7m to the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva high school in Susya, in the Israeli-occupied territory.
In June, the Guardian published details of a formal complaint made by the Labour MP, Melanie Ward, to the regulator in which she said that 32 charities in England and Wales had donated at least £28m to Israeli settlements that are illegal under international law. The Guardian understands that the inquiry is a direct response to Ward’s complaint.
Announcing the investigation, which will initially focus on eight unnamed charities, Stephen Roake, assistant director, high risk compliance at the commission, said: “Serious allegations have been made about UK charities operating in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine, so our first step is to establish the facts. Only then can we determine if regulatory action is required, based on our findings and the evidence we see.
“Our fact-finding will also help us develop regulatory guidance for charities, which will to help ensure public trust and confidence in charities.”
Government contracts to require job creation instead of green targets under new rules
Alexandra Topping
Ministers will scrap the requirement for companies to prove their green and progressive values before they are awarded government contracts, and instead ask firms to prove they will help young people back into work.
As part of a government push to reduce the number of people not in education, employment or training (Neets) in the UK and boost regional growth, public sector buyers will double the consideration they give to whether companies will get more people into jobs, rather than if they can show they are improving social and environmental wellbeing. Government procurement contracts account for about £90bn of taxpayers’ money spent each year.
Louise Haigh, the first secretary of state, said the move would help small businesses who often find themselves locked out of contracts because of the requirements, which big businesses know how to get around.
“Every pound of taxpayer money should be spent in a way that benefits local communities – creating good jobs and giving young people the skills they need for the future,” said Haigh. “For too long, securing government contracts has been a tick-box exercise that fails to deliver the positive change that people feel in their pocket and see in the places they live.
“We are doing things differently. These new rules will ensure the £90bn that is spent each year through government contracts supports British jobs, skills and people in every postcode.”
Jillian Ambrose
BP’s chief executive has urged Andy Burnham to make use of the UK’s oil and gas resources even as the oil company prepares to sell its North Sea business after 60 years in the ageing basin.
In a conversation with the new prime minister, Meg O’Neill said the country should prioritise using energy produced in the UK, “where we generate jobs, we generate tax revenue, we generate all those additional positive impacts”.
BP’s endorsement of UK oil production came days after the 117-year-old company signalled a plan to exit the North Sea after six decades, as part of a wider plan to streamline its business.
O’Neill said North Sea investments were “not competitive” within BP’s portfolio, while the company reported its highest quarterly profits since the first year of Russia’s war on Ukraine because of rising oil and gas prices caused by the Middle East crisis.
BP’s quarterly profits more than doubled to $5.73bn (£4.27bn) in the three months to the end of June, as the conflict in the Middle East continued to disrupt energy exports from the Gulf.
O’Neill added that BP had already received several unsolicited approaches to buy its North Sea fields and she was “very optimistic” that the assets would “continue to be profitable in the hands of a future owner”.
Labour members ‘have tougher view on welfare than you might think’, poll suggests
Aletha Adu
Andy Burnham has inherited a Labour membership that is sceptical about increased welfare spending, supportive of higher defence spending, and ranks the climate crisis as one of the country’s biggest challenges, according to new polling.
The survey of 788 members between the end of June and the end of July shows them ranking health (43%), the economy (42%), cost of living (39%) and climate change (29%) as Britain’s most important issues, ahead of welfare benefits (7%) and immigration (6%).
Despite the internal rows within the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) on welfare spending and general public pushback, 47% of members surveyed by ThinkLabour believe the government is spending too much on welfare, compared with 21% who believe it does not spend enough.
When asked whether they would prefer the government to fund its current welfare bill differently, 52% said taxes should be raised. Additionally, 70% of Labour members said only high earners should be taxed while 24% supported higher taxes on everyone to fund the current bill.
The survey reveals members overwhelmingly backed more spending on social care, with 73% saying the government should spend more on this through higher taxes, either on higher earners alone or through general taxation. It found 68% of members wanted Britain to spend more on defence, and among the supporters for higher defence spending, 61% backed paying for this through higher taxes.
Ex-MP urges Tories to drop candidate jailed for campaign of antisemitic abuse against her
Ben Quinn
A former MP has urged the Tory leader to drop an election candidate who was previously jailed for a campaign of antisemitic abuse against her.
Kemi Badenoch on Tuesday defended the Conservative party’s selection of Joshua Bonehill-Paine, a former neo-Nazi, insisting she believes in “second chances”.
Writing on social media, Luciana Berger, who is now a Labour member of the House of Lords, said: “For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t believe this man should have *any* role in public life – because of both his racism and his view of women.”
Directly addressing the Conservative leader in a thread of comments online, Berger said she was still “haunted” by the case and told Badenoch that she had “got this very, very wrong”.
“He was convicted for racial harassment for 5 specific blogs. But that wasn’t all – he’d published *reams* of deeply racist, misogynistic and pornographic material about me,” said Berger. She recalled being six months pregnant when she had to give evidence at the Old Bailey in what she described as “two days of hell”.
“I count myself lucky though. There were other victims whose lives he had totally destroyed,” she added. She said she felt sick reading commentators who were defending the selection.
Bonehill-Paine, the creator of the viral Crewkerne Gazette series of AI clips, is due to stand for election to Somerset council next year.
He told the Guardian on Monday that he was an executive member of the Tories’ Yeovil branch, working as an events organiser, and has carried out counter-extremism work since he was released from prison.
Burnham considering public inquiry into UK activities of Jeffrey Epstein
Aletha Adu
Andy Burnham is considering launching a public inquiry into the UK activities of the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a minister has said.
The victims’ minister, Alex Davies-Jones, said the prime minister had agreed to meet Epstein’s victims, was “looking into” an inquiry and was “taking this very seriously”. A separate inquiry into the alleged actions of the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed is also being considered.
Asked if a public inquiry was on the table, Davies-Jones told BBC Newsnight: “We are looking into this, we are reviewing what is possible … same with Harrods survivors.
“We already have a now statutory inquiry under way for the grooming gangs victims. I have been assured that the prime minister is taking this very seriously.
“He will meet with those victims and he is looking at what is possible, now he has access to all of the information as prime minister to see … what action we can take.”
More than 400 allegations of sexual abuse have been made against Fayed, from 1977 to 2014, including claims of rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
The Metropolitan police are investigating allegations from at least 156 complainants including 21 who came forward before Fayed died in 2023.
Badenoch defends decision to allow former neo-Nazi to stand in local elections
Kemi Badenoch has defended the Conservative party’s decision to allow a former neo-Nazi to stand as a councillor, although she indicated he might not be allowed to become a candidate for parliament.
The Tory leader said Joshua Bonehill-Paine had been rehabilitated and now worked to tackle racism and antisemitism.
She 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. I have much higher thresholds for what it takes to be a Conservative MP.
She added:
I am extremely worried about antisemitism and what I feel is that if we can’t have the people who have previously been radicalised, who understand what went wrong and are part of the fight against antisemitism now, if we’re saying: ‘No, no, no, you’re untouchable,’ then how can we pretend that we believe in rehabilitation?
I’m someone who’s quite sceptical about rehabilitation and I see this man as somebody who has been rehabilitated.
Continuing his media round on the airwaves this morning, justice minister Jake Richards said he understood the “strength of feeling” among police about PC Andrew Harper’s death but that without prison places officers would not be able to do their jobs.
Richards said that Harper’s Law strengthens the sentence for perpetrators who commit such offences but that “it doesn’t work retrospectively”.
“I understand the strength of feeling from police officers generally, but of course within that force in particular after the awful incident with Pc Andrew Harper,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“If we do not have prison places available then the police, the good work that they do every day on the streets, finding perpetrators, locking them up, it would be impossible.”
Asked about those who remain eligible, Richards told BBC Breakfast:
The new regime comes into effect from October the first. The sentences, or the offences, sorry, which have been carved out, have been published online.
Manslaughter is not one of those offences, and it would be wrong to pick out individual cases within different offending cohorts. That wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t be lawful either.
So it is correct that those two individuals will be subject to the new regime from October.
Justice minister Jake Richards said the government “cannot carve out every single offence people might want us to” amid claims a loophole means historical child sex abusers will still be eligible for early release from prison.
Asked about The Times reporting that the rules will not apply to child sex offences that took place before the law changed in 2003, Richards told Sky News:
Well, we’ve set out and published all the offences which have been now carved out of the new scheme that begins in October.
Those are all online, several pages. But what we have been very clear is that we cannot carve out every single offence that people might want us to do so.
We would like to do that, the prime minister has been very clear in his public pronouncements on this.
Meanwhile, Richards told BBC Breakfast that “previous early release schemes… were rushed”.
He added:
They weren’t thought through. There was no preparatory work at all done by the government because they were essentially running a system which was out of control, and that this is fundamentally different.
He said the new scheme would ensure every victim was contacted and invited to share what measures they want in place to “ensure that they can be kept safe”.
Thames Valley chief constable ‘considering’ joining Police Federation legal challenge
The Thames Valley chief constable has said he is “receiving legal advice” and would “certainly consider” joining the Police Federation’s legal action over the possible release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers.
Asked if he would join the case, Jason Hogg told the BBC’s Today programme on Wednesday:
This is something I certainly would consider. But like I said, I urge the government now.
I do think that the public opinion is overwhelming in this matter, but I think it’s unfair and I do believe confidence in the criminal justice system risks being damaged.
It’s right for the government to have a look at this matter.
He added that their possible release has had a “profound impact” on his force.
Minister defends early release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers amid possible legal challenge
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics blog.
Ministers continue to defend the release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers as part of the government’s early prisoner release scheme, despite a potential legal challenge from the Police Federation.
Justice minister Jake Richards acknowledged the “unimaginable pain” of the deceased officer’s family but said “difficult decisions” must be made because law and order could “collapse” without a functioning prison system.
About 1,000 fewer prisoners will be released early after Andy Burnham’s intervention to exclude those convicted of rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming from the scheme.
Asked to respond to Police Federation chief Aileen O’Connor’s threat of legal action, he told Sky News:
Well, look, we understand that people are angry. The Harper family are, of course, angry. The police are angry too.
We’re angry that we’re in this situation where we face the unenviable position of having to make sure that we have a sustainable prison system, which is so vital to a functioning law and order system in our country, but also that we do right by victims as far as possible.
And the prime minister has looked again at the scheme. He said he wants to do more than he has been able to do, and that we wanted to take further action to try and ease the unimaginable pain that the Harper family are feeling every day, but we also have to balance that by ensuring that we have a functioning prison system.
He added:
Because without a functioning prison system, it means it’s difficult for police to make arrests, it’s difficult for our courts to try cases, and it could mean to the collapse of law and order in this country.
We cannot be in that situation, so that is the challenge that we face as government ministers and the prime minister faces ultimately.
Richards’ defence of the policy came as a Police Federation chief told Times Radio she feels “sick to her stomach” over the possible early release of PC Harper’s killers.
Aileen O’Connor, chairwoman of Thames Valley Police Federation, previously wrote in The Sun newspaper that the organisation “will throw everything at this through a proper legal challenge from KCs, barristers, you name it.”
She added on Wednesday:
I feel sick to my stomach, if I’m really honest with you. I’ve had a gut wrenching feeling in my stomach the past couple of weeks with this, and it doesn’t go away.
And arguably, I would say that many of my members across Thames Valley also have this gut wrenching feeling, even at the prospect of these two killers being released in the space of weeks, potentially.
In other developments:
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Ministers will scrap the requirement for companies to prove their green and progressive values before they are awarded government contracts, and instead ask firms to prove they will help young people back into work.
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Women should not feel pressurised into experiencing an “ideal birth”, the new health secretary, Yvette Cooper, has said, promising a root-and-branch reform of standards after several damning maternity scandals.
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An official investigation has been launched into charities in England and Wales donating funds to illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine.
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Andy Burnham has inherited a Labour membership that is sceptical about increased welfare spending, supportive of higher defence spending, and ranks the climate crisis as one of the country’s biggest challenges, according to new polling.
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BP’s chief executive has urged Andy Burnham to make use of the UK’s oil and gas resources even as the oil company prepares to sell its North Sea business after 60 years in the ageing basin.
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The Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, has defended the selection of a former neo-Nazi activist as a candidate for a local election in Somerset despite him being jailed in 2016 after he was convicted of racially aggravated harassment of the former Labour MP Luciana Berger.
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Pupils in Scotland’s schools received their exam results this morning, with exam pass rates at all levels having risen this year, including a record number of National 5 passes.
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