Bridget Phillipson, on why rapist Brand was so close to people in power - including Labour MPs

What we feel is like, well, you know, the suffragettes, they may have given their lives for the right to vote. The people in power worked out, OK, we've got to give votes to women. Let's just now make sure that their votes mean very little. And, you know, and since then, since suffrage, since the right of women to vote, what has meaningfully occurred? That's totally wrong. Go on, mate. Well, look, workers' rights, the National Health Service, a minimum wage, lesbian and gay rights. The whole point about this is that they happen. I don't actually take the view that some politicians take, which is all about the great politicians who make the change happen. Of course it's people that make it happen. It's not pleasant to watch that. It makes me feel a bit sick watching it. Thank I know Ed Miliband has previously said he regrets having done that interview, and that was before we've seen the criminal prosecution. At the time, he said he was proud to be engaging with Brand, and he said if there were more people like him, I'd reach out to them too. The thing I would say is that People like Brand will seek proximity to power in order you. to make it harder for their behaviour to be challenged. Ed Miliband facilitated that. But he puts himself in that position alongside a political figure in order to make it harder to challenge him. People like Brand know what they're doing when they do it. That's not to offer any justification. So you're saying Brand manipulated Ed Miliband? I am saying that people like Brand will always behave in ways that are manipulative because they know what they're doing. This is not... Contrary to some of the discussion we see about sexual violence and violence against women, this is not something that just happens. It's not even just a one-off often. It is a repeated pattern of behaviour where people like Brand know what they're doing, not only just in seeking out their victims, but in getting themselves into positions of authority. I was on the Home Affairs Select Committee when Russell Brand came in front of our committee in 2012 to give evidence to an inquiry on drugs policy. He knew what he was doing when he did that. And I look back on that, and I feel deeply uncomfortable that he was given a platform in Parliament. I think Ed Miliband should apologise. Well, he's already said that he regretted it. But I think just to say one thing, the only person responsible for Russell Brand's crimes are Russell Brand. Things weren't known about him then, weren't they? I mean, Danny Mangan in 2006 called him a vile predator. She said that he wouldn't take no for an answer. Sachsgate had happened in 2008, where he rang up an old man, and he and Jonathan Ross talked about... Having sex with his granddaughter, Katy Perry, his former wife in 2013, said he was very controlling. It went on and on. And you're sort of saying that Russell Brand kind of manipulated Ed Miliband? No, I'm not offering excuses here. I'm just saying that I actually think all of us have a responsibility to reflect on our role in society and challenging these kinds of attitudes. But I do believe that people like Brand know what they're doing when they seek to put themselves in positions of authority.