Speculation is rife that comedian Russell Brand may be about to endorse Ed Miliband after the Labour leader was spotted leaving Mr Brand’s London home last night.
Mr Brand is well known for his anti-politics rhetoric, telling the BBC in 2013 that he has never voted and never will. “It is not that I am not voting out of apathy. I am not voting out of absolute indifference and weariness and exhaustion from the lies, treachery and deceit of the political class that has been going on for generations”, he said.
He added that politicians are only interested in “serving the needs of corporations”, and that the current political system should be replaced with a bureaucracy tasked with the “massive redistribution of wealth”.
Mr Brand is currently believed to be worth approximately £9 million. He went on, in 2014, to pen a book entitled Revolution, which sought to make “revolution not only possible, but inevitable and fun.” The text was dismissed by journalist Nick Cohen as “long-winded, confused and smug.”
However, Mr Brand has received the backing of Mr Miliband, who in February told Shortlist magazine that he agreed with Mr Brand’s diagnosis on voter disengagement, saying: “I definitely want people to vote – and I want people to vote Labour, obviously – but it’s really important that we engage people in the election. People criticize Russell Brand, and I don’t agree with his message, but what he’s saying, a number of people are thinking. Which is that politics doesn’t feel like it speaks to them.”
Last night Mr Miliband was photographed emerging from Mr Brand’s Shoreditch home, which also houses his recording studio in which Mr Brand films content for his YouTube channel “The Trews”, billed as an outlet that will “give you the true news so you don’t have to invest any money in buying newspapers that charge you for the privilege of keeping your consciousness imprisoned in a tiny box of ignorance and lies.”
Last night, Labour party sources confirmed that Mr Miliband had met Mr Brand in order to film an interview, saying he “was doing a media interview like he often does”, and that they “looked forward to it being broadcast.”
David Cameron has reacted dismissively, saying: “Russell Brand’s a joke..I haven’t got time to hang out with Russell Brand.”
The announcement has not gone down so well on Twitter, where people were cynical regarding the meeting, keeping Labour journalists Owen Jones and Alistair Campbell busy tweeting their support.
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