DAILY MAIL COMMENT: No alarm bells about Russell Brand in 2015? You're taking us for fools, Ms Powell...
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Does Lucy Powell think we are all as thick as two short planks? Or is she just hoping we have the collective memory of a goldfish?
Any alternative explanation for her brazen insistence that there were no alarm bells about Russell Brand before his 2015 interview with Ed Miliband seems unlikely.
Even then, it had long been clear that Brand was a deeply unsavoury character who revelled in his reputation for debauchery and had no discernible sense of decency. He triggered widespread public revulsion as far back as 2008 after leaving a series of vile messages - in cahoots with his odious chum Jonathan Ross - on the answerphone of elderly actor Andrew Sachs.
He had previously been fired from XFM for reading pornography live on air during a Sunday afternoon show. But with other broadcasters prepared to hire him, Brand’s constant bragging about his sordid sexual adventures was almost impossible to avoid.
It is no exaggeration to say Ms Powell, who was vice-chair of Labour’s 2015 election campaign, stretches credulity by pleading ignorance all these years later. Nor is she remotely convincing when she claims it was impossible to vet Brand because it was before the ‘social media age’.
Lucy Powell, who was vice-chair of Labour’s 2015 election campaign, stretches credulity by pleading ignorance about Russell Brand's reputation all these years later
Data from Ofcom shows that more than seven in ten UK adult internet users had a social media profile, such as a Facebook or Twitter account, in 2015. Ms Powell herself reportedly signed up for Twitter in 2009 and had tweeted almost 12,000 times before the 'Milibrand' interview took place.
It has also emerged that no less a figure than Andy Burnham - then an Opposition frontbencher - tweeted an ill-advised message of support for Brand the previous year.
The uncomfortable truth is that the Prime Minister and members of his inner circle were happy to cultivate an individual who was even then wearing his depravity like a badge of honour. Nothing, apparently, was more important than then-Opposition leader Mr Miliband - an awkward and terminally unfashionable figure - currying favour among younger voters through association with the supposedly ‘cool’ Brand.
From a moral perspective, it was a hugely cynical tactic by a Labour hierarchy desperate to get back into government. But now that it has backfired in the most spectacular fashion, Ms Powell’s implausible explanations aren’t doing herself or the party any favours. By insulting everyone’s intelligence, she is only adding insult to injury.
Criminal error
Even Mr Burnham must now realise his woeful misjudgment in pressing ahead with the early-release programme for convicts.
The latest phase of the scheme saw inmates originally given jail terms of up to three years and two months walking free yesterday. Among those emerging through the prison gates were individuals who marked their first moments of liberty by making gun shapes with their hands.
Quite what we can expect when those sentenced to 12 years start getting out is anyone’s guess.
Benefits blueprint
Anyone who truly wants the best for Britain will welcome the tone and substance of Kemi Badenoch’s new welfare strategy.
Throwing public money at people who are perfectly capable of working is, of course, a slap in the face to taxpayers. But it also risks condemning future generations to dependence, indolence and - perhaps worst of all - aimlessness.
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