The Green party has opened the door to an official endorsement from Russell Brand.
Brand, the controversial comedian and self-styled revolutionary campaigner, made his first explicit remarks about the party publicly – and he was very complimentary:
I think the Green party seem fantastic. If only there were the constitutional reform to make them electable. And in fact the widespread democratic change so that people can participate in [such] politics…
He was asked his opinion of the party in a video interview by freelance journalist Alex Rafael Rose.
Watch from 5.29:
Although Brand has worked with, and praised, the Green MP Caroline Lucas on drugs policy before, he hasn’t until now given his view on her party in light of the upcoming election.
There have been recent reports that the Greens wouldn’t welcome Brand’s help, following speculation that the party embodies his political philosophy and that he could become the “Green Nigel Farage”. In January, the Mail quoted a senior party source saying his association with the party would be “toxic”.
But either this view has changed, or it was never held in the first place, as a party spokesperson now tells me:
It’s obviously up to Russell Brand whether to give our party an ‘official’ endorsement but it is of course great to have the support of someone who is campaigning on issues that are vital to the future of this country – inequality, rapidly rising house prices, and our outdated drugs policy – and providing a voice for so many people feeling cut off and disaffected by a political system that fails to represent them.
His support, along with the recent decision made by the anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe to leave Labour and join the Green Party, shows that more and more people are seeing political change as not only desirable but possible.
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