Ed Balls has said his office warned Ed Miliband’s team over the decision to do a 2015 interview with Russell Brand.
Speaking on the Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with former chancellor George Osborne, Balls said his office asked: “What are you doing with this guy?”
Brand was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday for raping a fan and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers.
Balls, who served as shadow chancellor from 2011 to 2015, said: “The feedback from my office back to [Miliband’s office] was what are you doing with this guy? I mean, he’s weird, and he’s untrustworthy, and he’s already been removed from the BBC for his behaviour. And do we really want this?”
Balls said Miliband’s team went ahead “because they thought it would solve a political problem”.
The former Labour MP said he later had to publicly defend the interview because of his position in the shadow cabinet. “I say, well, you know, I guess they think it will connect with the young people, and so be it”, he said. “It’s your job when you’re shadow chancellor, you’ve got to support the leader, but at the same time, I thought it was ridiculous.”
Balls said this was “before we knew any of the detail of the actual allegations which have come out in this case”.
He added: “I understand what their motivation was, but to be honest, when [journalist and commentator] Owen Jones says this is a really good idea, I just tend to be more sceptical.”
Balls lost his seat in the 2015 general election as the Conservatives returned to power with a narrow majority.
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Speaking to Channel 4 on Wednesday, Miliband said that he “deeply regrets” the interview, which was recorded at Brand’s flat for his web series The Trews.
Miliband, now the foreign secretary, said: “What Russell Brand did was horrifying. It was horrifying, and all of my sympathies are with the victims of Russell Brand.
“And of course, there are further allegations about him as well as the crimes he’s been convicted of.
“If I had known then what has come to light, I would, as I’ve said before, never have done that interview. And as I’ve also said before, I deeply regret doing it.”
At prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said Miliband should be “ashamed” for having tried to “cosy up” to Brand.
The remark came as Badenoch accused Miliband of blocking a decision to approve drilling at the Rosebank oil field in the North Sea during his tenure as energy secretary under Keir Starmer.
Badenoch told the House: “He called Rosebank ‘climate vandalism’, but then he also thought cosying up to Russell Brand would make him prime minister.
“So I don’t think we need to trust his judgment.”
Labour MPs shouted “shame” in response to the Conservative leader’s comments.
Badenoch responded: “They’re right – the foreign secretary should be ashamed.”
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