Sin&tonic

Lucy Powell on the Ed Miliband Russell Brand interview Sophy Ridge: In 2015, Ed Miliband was interviewed by Russell Brand. And he was invited over to his house to do it. It's been reported that you were the one who set up the interview. Is that true and do you regret it? Lucy Powell: Look, I mean, it wasn't quite like that. 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 or any allegations that were known at the time, then, of course, that interview I'm sure would not have happened, history would have been very, very, different. Those things unfortunately, weren't known at the time. But I think, like anybody who paid to go to his show or watched him on TV, or 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 Sophy Ridge: You were campaign chief, did you set it up? Were you involved in the process? Lucy Powell: Look, I mean, he approached the Labour Party, he approached the campaign team, and we’re in very different times now. We weren't in the social media age at the time - where you could maybe search things up and see allegations 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, you know, 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. And we didn't know at the time, unfortunately. It was a different era.