Russell Brand on the General Election and backing Ed Miliband: 'I'm just a comedian'

Brand said he was going to 'take a step away' from endorsing politicians

Russell Brand has said that he regrets getting swept up in party politics ahead of the General Election.

Speaking on his YouTube channel The Trews, Brand asked: "Bloody hell, what's happened?"

Despite having backed the Labour party just days ago, Brand described a potential Labour government as "a bit piecemeal and doesn't want to change things enough".

He said: "I'm just a comedian! I'm not even electable or nothing! I'm just a bloke with a laptop and a bit of mouth."

Speaking about the process behind making The Trews in the run-up to the election, Brand said he got too caught up in the idea he could make a difference.

"What I feel like from a personal perspective, is when we interviewed Miliband, we thought: 'Oh my God, we can probably influence the outcome of an election.' And now I think: 'You can't influence the outcome of an election.'

"What got me into that position mentally, is that when I did that interview with Paxman and said 'I don't vote'... I sort of became a de facto spokesperson for people who don't vote. But it wasn't really that, I was just feeling the same things they feel," he explained.

"It's not like I had any authority or power. I think for a moment I got caught up in some mad The Thick Of It.

"Like, Miliband's in my house. [People] were telling me: 'If Labour don't get in it'll be really bad for housing... public services are going to get cut more than ever, it's going to get worse for very poor people.'

"And now, actually, the Conservatives have won and I sort of feel like the media doesn't have the same power it used to. [I thought] people don't listen to the front pages of the Sun or the Mail," he said. "But evidently, that is not the case."

Both newspapers endorsed the Conservative party. They won 323 seats, despite polls almost universally pointing to another hung parliament.

"The only conclusion I can draw from this, is this is a time where a lot of people want the Conservatives in power, because they voted for them," Brand said.

"The only currency we have is compassion and being nice to one another. We're going to have no short of meanness over the next five years."

"My only regret in this is that I thought I could be involved," he said.

He also hinted at using private healthcare when touching on the subject of his sick mother, saying: "thank God I'm in a position where I can take care of my mother as well, because it's going to be a lot harder for people that can't.

Brand concluded: "Change is going to come from us, from ordinary people working together."