Russell Brand interview: Well, at least it brought out Miliband’s inner Blair

It may have been worth Ed Miliband going to the anti-democrat’s house as supplicant for that interview, as it turned out. Indeed, the interview was interesting enough for me to suspend my efforts to get through the election campaign without mentioning Russell Brand.

I thought it was interesting for an unexpected reason. Not because Miliband was going into the tents of the ungodly, and seeking to engage with the anti-politics furies, although I think that may have been quite a clever decision. I had never heard of Trews before, but I know Brand is big on Twitter, and that the entire mainstream media (including Independent Voices) has played Brand’s egotistical game.

However, I thought the interview was interesting because Brand forced Miliband to get in touch with his inner Tony Blair. Not just the Estuary accent, although it induced nostalgia to hear those glo’al stops again, but the defence of centrist pragmatism. Miliband, usually a dreamy-eyed sub-Brand victim of political Stockholm syndrome – isn’t social-democratic Sweden lovely? – was transformed into a happy warrior for New Labour’s eternal truths.

Brand’s only measure of social progress is the number of bankers who have been jailed, to which Miliband couldn’t help himself responding, “Banks are a good thing not a bad thing.” Miliband tried to explain that changing society is difficult: “That is hard yards but you’ve got to do it.” Well, Blair would never have used an American football term, but as a Philadelphia Eagles fan I’m not going to hold that against Miliband. The Labour leader went on: “I'm no’ looking for euphoria. There’s no’ gonna be change on day one. Righ’? It’s no’ gonna be like that. It takes effor’, righ’?”

Anything that pushes Miliband towards the centre is fine by me. Anything that forces him to make the case for capitalism, and even finance capital, is what I call progress. Anything that requires him to rebut the delusion that Britain can be turned into a left-wing version of a mythical Sweden overnight is welcome. Brand’s anti-politics is just an extreme version of Miliband’s own naive leftism. Brand seems to think that a socialist paradise can be achieved by not voting and going on demos (further and better particulars no doubt available in his booky-wook). Miliband too often seemed to think that it could be achieved by voting Labour. Anything that forces Miliband, who might be prime minister next week, to confront the limits of his naive magical leftism is a good thing.