Burnham responds to BBC question over Labour's past links to Brand

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said Russell Brand has rightly been held to account for his "horrific" crimes and sought to explain Labour's previous association with the comedian. Asked about the 2014 tweet on Friday, Burnham said: "It's not always the case that people know everything about people in public life." In 2014, Brand was writing regular opinion pieces for newspapers and appearing on political discussion programmes, including the BBC's Question Time.

The same year, Burnham, then the shadow health secretary, posted on Twitter in support of Brand following allegations about the comedian's housing arrangements. Brand threatened to sue the newspaper and said he would give the money to victims of the Hillsborough disaster, a group Burnham has long campaigned for.

At the time, Burnham said it was "depressing to see media mission to discredit someone who stops playing their game" and urged Brand to "keep going". Asked about that social media post on Friday, Burnham told the BBC "all I can say is I had no idea of the full extent of what he was doing or what he went on to do".