Former neo-Nazi withdraws as Tory candidate after Badenoch backs him

A former neo-Nazi activist has withdrawn as a Conservative council candidate after the party leader initially defended his selection. The candidate had previously subjected an MP to what the Mirror describes as "deeply antisemitic and misogynistic" attacks.

Kemi Badenoch had backed the candidate before the withdrawal, prompting backlash across multiple outlets. The Guardian's editorial describes the episode as part of a pattern it calls "purging moderation". The BBC and Independent both report the withdrawal followed sustained criticism of the selection.

The vetting question is the story beneath the story. The Mirror reports separately that the same individual claims to have passed Reform UK's vetting process as well - a claim that, if accurate, suggests the machinery for screening candidates across the right is porous or overwhelmed. The Conservative Party has run candidate vetting since at least the Major years; the fact that someone with a documented extremist past reached selection raises questions about what the process now catches, or whether speed has replaced thoroughness.

The episode is a test of Badenoch's stated commitment to "common sense" politics - a phrase doing considerable work in her positioning. Defending the indefensible and then retreating looks neither sensible nor confident. It invites the question: what was the threshold, and who set it?

What to watch: whether the Conservatives publish any review of their vetting procedures, and whether Reform UK addresses the claim that the same candidate passed their process. Silence on the machinery will be read as acknowledgment.