A British lawmaker who arranged a Nazi-themed bachelor party in France said he will not seek re-election.

“After a difficult time, I have decided to announce I will stand down at the next general election,” Aiden Burley of the Conservative Party announced on Wednesday, The Guardian reported.

The announcement came two weeks after an internal party investigation of the December 2011 event determined that Burley’s actions were neither racist nor anti-Semitic. The party reprimanded Burley, who was dismissed in December 2011 as parliamentary private secretary for Transport Secretary Justine Greening a week after photos of his presence at the stag party at a French ski resort came to light.

Antisemitism Notebook

Your weekly guide through the news and the noise of how rising antisemitism and disputes over how to address it are shaping American Jewish life.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

At least one party participant dressed up in an SS officer’s uniform, and the guests toasted to the Nazi Party and the Third Reich. Burley had purchased the uniform and brought it to the party.

It is illegal in France to wear or exhibit in public Nazi-era memorabilia or copies of such memorabilia. Burley told investigators that he did not know it was illegal to wear such memorabilia in France, since it is not illegal in the United Kingdom.

Burley, who was elected to the House of Commons as a member of Parliament in 2010, offered an “unreserved, wholehearted and fulsome apology” in a letter to the London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper.

Following an investigation by French prosecutors, the groom was fined for wearing the SS uniform, and also was required to donate to an organization representing the families of Holocaust victims.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount