Russell Brand has revealed it is his “intention” to run to be Mayor of London.
Speaking on the US conservative commentator Tucker Carlson’s podcast he planned “to run for mayor of London in 2028”.
As part of his plans, Brand said he would operate a “pragmatatic” democracy where decisions would be “opened up to the people who live in London, who love London”.
He said he would ask voters: “Do you want ULEZ cameras? Do you want congestion charges? Do you want this type of policing where people are arrested for Facebook posts? Do you want us to focus on contemporary rape gangs?”
He said: “I would like to run for Mayor of London in 2028 so that the people of London would run it.”
The 50-year-old comedian and actor is currently due to face trial on October 12 facing allegations of sexual assault, indecent assault, and rape involving six women.
Brand has denied all charges, which date between 1999 to 2009.
Brand added that he could be serving a jail sentence at the time of the election if he is found guilty following his trial.
It comes as on the US journalist Megyn Kelly’s YouTube show, Brand condemned past actions and called himself “an exploiter of women” and “selfish”.
He said: “I did sleep with a 16-year old when I was 30, but when I was 30, I was a very different person. I was a lot younger, and I was an immature person.
“The plain fact of it is that in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I’m from, the age of consent is 16.”
Brand said that given his fame at the time, he understood that his actions were exploitative: “Consexual sex with a lot of people, when there is a strong power differential, as there is when you are a famous man who has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation. I think it is exploitative.”
The comedian has already appeared twice at Southwark Crown Court to enter not guilty pleas to all the allegations against him.
The trial, which was originally scheduled for June, has been pushed back due to the summer holidays.
A court has already heard that Brand was accused of raping a woman in a hotel room while she attended a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, and grabbing a TV worker’s breasts and orally raping her after dragging her into a male toilet.
It has also been alleged that Brand grabbed a radio station worker’s face, kissed her and groped her breasts and buttocks.
At his height, Brand was one of Britain’s most successful stand-up comedians and gained fame in the US after marrying pop singer Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012.
He is now married to Laura Gallacher, with whom he shares three children.
It was rumoured in 2014 that Brand was planning to launch a bid to succeed then London Mayor Boris Johnson in City Hall. But he refused to comment on suggestions at the time.
