Russell Brand for Mayor of London? Boris Johnson Would Be "Thrilled" if the Capitalism-Bashing Comedian Ran for Office

Financial Times reporter also recounts how the funnyman made her "cringe" as he leaned in for a kiss goodbye

By Natalie Finn Oct 28, 2014 1:19 AMTags
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Russell Brand is loving making the rounds promoting his latest book, the capitalism-and-establishment-bashing Revolution.

"I'm enjoying this," he told the Financial Times' Lucy Kellaway during a recent lunchtime sit-down. "I used to do interviews where I'd just talk about Katy Perry."

But since he brought up romance, Kellaway then tried to ask him about his most recent flame, Jemima Khan, but it took her a while to remember her name. The reporter jokingly chalked her forgetfulness up to old age.

"You're not old. Well, I'll tell you this; I think you're a very beautiful woman," she quoted Brand in her article." There's moments when you spasm into apoplexy where you're quite delightful."

When Kellaway tried to steer the conversation back to Kahn, he replied, "Oh, I'm not talking about all that claptrap."

What he did want to talk about was what he really thinks of government—a sham, at least in its current incarnation—and the world's social, economical and political ills.

But while he seemed to deflect most of the questions about his torid past, Brand was his usual cheeky self in the present, telling Kellaway when it was time to say goodbye, "Your [boyfriend will] want a photograph, won't he? I think he'll want us to be having a mouth kiss."

Kellaway wrote that she cringed when he leaned in to try to kiss her on the mouth, but the star insisted that she did no such thing.

"Your body language looked halfhearted and your face changed colour," he observed.

Ballantine Books

Before things took a turn for the strange(r), however, Brand reiterated his feelings about voting to the FT, saying that his aversion to the process as it stands is "not an allergy. The reason I don't vote is the same reason I don't eat glitter; there's no f--king point."

"Do you know why I think the people of Scotland should have voted yes? Because [Prime Minister David] Cameron wanted them to vote no. Do you know why I think we shouldn't be bombing the Middle East? Because they want to bomb the Middle East. Any single thing they tell me, I disagree with absolutely 100 per cent."

Brand does think that change is possible, however, explaining he still believes people are inherently good at heart because "I've seen a revolution in my own life, I've come from a very ordinary background and I've become a drug addict, I've lived for years on benefits and now I live a completely different life where I experience all of the glamour, all of the things that capitalism promises—fame, pop stardom, glory, money. And it's worthless and it's meaningless."

But is Brand really planning on putting his money where his mouth is, in the form of an "anti-politics" run for mayor? The Mail on Sunday reported that Brand has told close friends that he's considering joining the political fray.

His camp hasn't confirmed that, but current London Mayor Boris Johnson thinks that would be just ripping!

"Russell Brand may be about as convincing as a political theorist as a toaster made by Russell Hobbs, but he is at least engaging his Left-wing audience with something they can recognise as passion," the quirky politician wrote in a column in the Telegraph.

"Alas, I don't have the slightest confidence that he will run for Mayor of London—as his publicists were confiding yesterday to a credulous media. But I would be thrilled if he did. As a phenomenon he is a sign of the disintegration of the Left and the weakness of Ed Miliband, and he therefore needs every possible encouragement."

Wouldn't that be something, guvna?!