Labour's deputy leader has defended Ed Miliband over his appearance on one of Russell Brand's shows over a decade ago.
Last week saw Brand convicted after a trial at Southwark Crown Court of abuse against four victims. On Monday (November 9) he learned that he would be jailed for 10-and-a-half years for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers during his rise to fame.
The comedian and actor is expected to serve two-thirds of his prison sentence before being released on licence and will be on the sex offenders' register for life. He had already spent four nights in jail prior to his sentencing.
Deputy leader responds to questions
Lucy Powell, Labour's deputy leader, has now said that Mr Miliband's 2015 general election interview with Brand took place in a 'different era' before his predatory sexual behaviour had been exposed. Ms Powell was the vice chairwoman of Labour's election campaign in 2015.
Mr Miliband, then the Labour leader, appeared on Brand's online show The Trews as part of an attempt to win over young voters. He lost that election to David Cameron and resigned from his position.
Ms Powell, who is the Education Secretary, said on Tuesday (November 10) that Brand had a 'powerful platform' and approached Labour first as she faced questions over what role she played in setting up the appearance.
Powell's comments on the interview
She told Sky News: "It was a long time ago, obviously and had I or Ed Miliband or anybody at the time had any sense at all that this was someone who was a sexual predator, who was involved in these sorts of crimes."
She added: "I think like anybody who would have paid to go to his show, would have watched him on TV, who was his employer at the time, who had interactions with him – anybody, including those of us who were involved in that at the time – would look back and really regret that, knowing today what we now know."
When the interview took place 11 years ago, Brand had already lost his BBC Radio 2 show for leaving a series of messages on actor Andrew Sachs' answerphone about a romantic liaison with his granddaughter. He had also been fired from XFM for reading pornography on air and detailed his womanising in his autobiography.
Powell's further remarks
Asked about her role in setting up the interview, Ms Powell said: "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.
"And, as I say, if there was any suggestion at all, we were dealing with someone who was a known sexual predator at the time then, of course, no one would have done that.
"But as I say, he was a well-known public figure. Lots of people, from Hollywood to the BBC to many others, gave this person a very, very powerful platform. We didn't know at the time and unfortunately, maybe had people come forward or felt able to… it was a different era."
She continued: "What I would say to women now, off the back of that, is do come forward when these things happen to you.
"You will be supported. You will be believed. You will be taken seriously. Because actually, had we had an environment and a culture, 15 years ago, 20 years ago, where women felt that, then he would have been stopped in his tracks sooner and we would have had less victims as a consequence."
