ANKARA
U.K. opposition leader Ed Miliband told comedian Russell Brand in an interview released Thursday that he wanted to “change the way the country works.”
The iconoclastic, anti-capitalist comedian pressed the Labour Party leader about “the unelected powerful elites that really control things behind the scenes.”
“I think this is the central thing we have got to confront in this country… who is this country run for,” the center-left main opposition leader said. “Is it just run for the richest and most powerful or is it run for working people… I think an equal society is a more successful society.”
The 15-minute interview was conducted in Brand’s apartment kitchen for his show, The Trews, which regularly garners above 200,000 views per episode.
The episodes are then uploaded to his YouTube channel, which has over 1 million subscribers.
Brand, who has 9.6 million Twitter followers, has previously called for a revolution in the U.K. and has publicly urged people not to vote in elections.
One of the dominant themes of the interview was the influence media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch hold over politics via their large shares of the news market, which Brand argued should be capped at 10 or 15 percent.
“I said in our manifesto we would look at these issues of media ownership, and I’ve spoken out against Rupert Murdoch on phone hacking, and what happened to ordinary members of the public,” Miliband said.
“I am not diminishing Rupert Murdoch, but he is much less powerful than he used to be... The question is am I willing to stand up to these powerful forces and I am,” he continued.
Miliband challenged Brand’s dim view of electoral politics, arguing it had secured reforms such as workers’ rights, the minimum wage, and lesbian and gay rights, adding that these changes take time.
“We don't want politicians saying 'vote for me and on day one the world is transformed.' It ain’t going to be like that. Change is hard, it takes time," he said. I am not being a civil servant, that is the reality. Change requires pressure, it takes effort and it takes people to make the change happen.”
On bailing out the banks during the financial crisis, a controversial issue for those on the far-left such as Brand, Miliband was unrepentant.
“It was not about the banks, it was about ordinary people’s savings. Remember those queues starting to form (outside British bank) Northern Rock and all that? What was going to happen to ordinary people’s savings? I think banks are a good thing and not a bad thing."
“If there is fraud committed by bankers they should go to jail, but the bigger issue is how you have a banking system that works for small businesses and ordinary people.”
Right-wing British media pilloried the opposition leader for taking part in the interview.
The right-wing Sun newspaper, owned by Rupert Murdoch, ridiculed Miliband over his “desperate attempts to cosy up to loony leftie Russell Brand.”
“If we don’t engage in different ways with the people who aren’t engaging in this election, then we will have fewer and fewer people voting,” Miliband said defending his decision.
Younger British voters have consistently turned out to vote in lower numbers than the national average, and were likely Miliband’s target audience during the interview.
"I will do anything and engage with anyone to try and persuade people to vote," he said.
Brand, who has not yet endorsed Miliband for prime minster, spoke positively of the Labour leader in his post-interview round-up.
“It says a lot about Ed Miliband that he understands the way the media works now and the way the country feels and is prepared to come round here and talk to us at The Trews.”
