'It was a long time ago': Squirming Lucy Powell says she 'regrets' helping to set up Russell Brand interview with Ed Miliband in Labour's 2015 election campaign

Published: 03:37 EST, 10 November 2026 | Updated: 03:52 EST, 10 November 2026 Lucy Powell today admitted she 'regrets' helping to set up a notorious interview between Russell Brand and Ed Miliband before the 2015 election.Mr Miliband, then Labour leader, appeared on Brand's online show The Trews as he desperately attempted to win over young voters.Touring broadcast studios this morning after the comedian was sentenced, Ms Powell - who was vice-chair of the election campaign - argued it had not been possible to check into Brand.'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 told Sky News.The Education Secretary 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.'By the time the interview took place, Brand had already lost his BBC Radio 2 show for leaving a series of lewd messages on actor Andrew Sachs' answerphone about a romantic liaison with his granddaughter.Lucy Powell said she 'regrets' helping to set up a notorious interview between Russell Brand and Ed Miliband before the 2015 election Mr Miliband, then Labour leader, appeared on Brand's online show The Trews as he desperately attempted to win over young votersHe had also been fired from XFM for reading pornography on air and detailed his womanising in his autobiography.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.'Brand, 51, was jailed for 10-and-a-half years yesterday for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers during his rise to international fame.Ms Powell said: '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.'Mr Miliband suffered a disastrous election defeat at the hands of the Tories in 2015, and is now Foreign Secretary.