Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has criticised the “depressing” nature of the cross-examination of Russell Brand’s victims during his trial for rape and sexual assault, saying she believed the courts had “long gone past that sort of culture”.
Powell, now the education secretary, also said she regretted the meeting that the former party leader Ed Miliband had with Brand in 2015, when she was Labour’s campaign chief.
Brand was jailed for 10 and a half years on Monday for raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others, including at their workplaces.
Powell was asked on LBC radio about Brand’s defence in court, during which his barrister, Ian Winter KC, suggested he must be innocent because none of his victims had “resisted or screamed or even tried to leave”. Winter also said the anal rape of a 21-year-old woman by Brand was a “short and momentary failure” where “he did not respect her consent”.
Asked if that was reminiscent of the attitude of the 1950s, Powell said she had been shocked at some of what took place in the courtroom, while praising the judge’s words. “I found reading some of that incredibly sort of depressing. I thought we’d long gone past that sort of culture and that phase of things.
“And the judge’s remarks were also incredibly powerful in sentencing: that it doesn’t matter what you wear, how you behaved, how drunk you are, you know, you have the right to give your consent or not give your consent. And if it’s not given, then that is rape and that is a sexual offence, pure and simple.”
The BBC’s director general, Matt Brittin, wrote to the corporation’s staff to say that he wanted to ensure any concerns raised about workplace culture were heard “at the highest level”. His intervention followed criticism that Brand’s troubling behaviour had not been challenged properly during his time at the broadcaster.
Brittin said in his email that there had been valid criticism levelled at the media industry over its workplace culture after Brand’s conviction and recent allegations of antisemitism at the BBC.
Brand, who had stints as a presenter on BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 in 2006 and 2007, once joked on air about exposing himself to a woman moments before his show was broadcast. He also described one BBC boss, who has since left the broadcaster, as “incredibly tolerant” of his behaviour.
Brittin said the BBC and the wider media industry had made progress in improving culture, but that there was “still more to do to engage with staff and represent their views and concerns at the highest level”.
Brittin said he was looking at changes to improve culture that could be made immediately and as part of the next BBC charter being discussed with ministers.
The BBC published a review in 2025 that found some staff had felt unable to speak out because of Brand’s status and power. The corporation repeated its apology this week.
After the treatment of some of Brand’s accusers during his trial, Powell said the government had taken steps in guidance to challenge myths about rape and victim-blaming in court. “But clearly, a lot more needs to be done because I think many of us were really shocked that that could still take place in a courtroom today,” she said.
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At sentencing, the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, criticised Brand, saying the women had been subjected to additional suffering because of the conduct in court “on your instructions”.
“Whatever women wear, wherever they go, whatever they drink, they retain the right to say no and demand justice in the criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Mr Brand, act without their consent,” he said.
Powell said she and Miliband regretted that he had done an interview with Brand in 2015 during the hype around Revolution, Brand’s book on politics. At the time the interview took place, Brand had resigned his BBC Radio 2 show for leaving a series of lewd messages on actor Andrew Sachs’ answerphone about his granddaughter.
“It was a long time ago, obviously, and had I or Ed Miliband or anybody at the time had any sense at all that this was someone who was a sexual predator, who was involved in these sorts of crimes,” she told Sky News, anyone who was involved in promoting him would “look back and really regret that, knowing today what we now know”.
Asked about her role in setting up the interview, Powell said she had not understood the full extent of his sexual conduct that was already in the public domain – such as in his autobiography. “If there was any suggestion at all we were dealing with someone who was a known sexual predator at the time then, of course, no one would have done that.
“But as I say, he was a well-known public figure. Lots of people, from Hollywood to the BBC to many others, gave this person a very, very powerful platform.”
