Russell Brand’s 2015 interview with Ed Miliband came before the social media age, claims Lucy Powell, despite it being broadcast on his YouTube channel.
Ed Miliband and Russell Brand in 2015 (Image: YouTube)
Kemi Badenoch has mocked Labour’s “cringe” obsession with chasing celebrities, as the party tied itself in knots over Ed Miliband’s cosy chat with the rapist Russell Brand. It comes after Labour made excuses for Ed Miliband’s cosy sit-down with sex beast Russell Brand, after claiming it happened before the age of social media. Lucy Powell, who was helping to run Mr Miliband’s general election campaign at the time, insisted the 2015 interview took place before the social media era, despite it being broadcast on YouTube, a social media platform.
By 2015, platforms such as Twitter and Facebook were already a huge part of daily life, and Brand himself boasted millions of online followers. She joined Twitter in 2009, the same year as Mr Miliband, according to her own profile.
Ms Powell, Labour’s Deputy Leader, joined Twitter in 2009, according to her profile, the same year as Mr Miliband. In an interview with Sky News, she also said that Brand’s victims had not “come forward”. She said: “We didn’t know at the time, unfortunately. And maybe, you know, had people come forward or felt able to, it was a different era.”
Mrs Badenoch said: “I personally find it quite cringe and embarrassing when you see Labour politicians chasing celebrities like this all the time. We’re supposed to be the ones who are serious and grown-up, and not, you know, wanting to be on Gogglebox or whatever.”
She added: “I think Labour should just apologise generally for so much of what they have been doing.”
The disgraced comic was caged for ten-and-a-half years on Monday for raping a fan and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers.
Once the darling of the Left, the swaggering predator was courted by a string of political big-hitters, including Andy Burnham.
Mr Burnham posted a tweet in 2014 lavishing praise on Brand for “helping others” on Twitter.
Former CPS prosecutor and Reform UK candidate for Mayor of London Laila Cunningham said: “Lucy Powell’s excuses don’t stack up. Instead of tying herself in knots to justify her former leader’s appearance on a convicted rapist’s show, Labour should take accountability.
“Russell Brand was once a darling of the Labour Party, the BBC and the left-wing media. Serious questions remain about what they knew and when.”
Mr Miliband turned up on Brand’s YouTube show The Trews in 2015, when he was Labour leader, in a bid to win over young voters.
Facing awkward questions over her role in setting up the cringe-making interview, Ms Powell, now Education Secretary, told Sky News: “Look, we were in very different times. We weren’t in the social media age at the time, so where you could maybe search things up and see allegations or things about somebody at the time.”
She added: “We didn’t know at the time and unfortunately, maybe had people come forward or felt able to… it was a different era.”
Ms Powell insisted Brand had approached Labour first, and claimed anyone who dealt with him “would look back and really regret that, knowing today what we now know”.
Lucy Powell blamed ‘a different era’ (Image: Getty)
Yet the deviants sleazy antics were hardly a secret when Mr Miliband came calling.
He had already been booted off his BBC Radio 2 show over vile answerphone messages left for Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.
He had been sacked from XFM for reading pornography on air, and had bragged about his bed-hopping exploits in his own autobiography.
Ms Powell urged women to come forward, saying: “You will be supported. You will be believed. You will be taken seriously.”