Lucy Powell
Role at the time: Deputy leader of the Labour Party and education secretary, interviewed on LBC
Condemned
Statement summary
Asked on LBC about the defence's questioning of the women, Powell said she found it depressing and thought that culture was long gone, and praised the judge's sentencing remarks that sex without consent is rape whatever a woman wore or drank.
“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.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Police receive further criminal allegations against Russell Brand · The GuardianFull article
Why we used this label
Powell criticizes the way the women were questioned and endorses the judge's statement that sex without consent is rape, so we labeled it as condemning Brand's conduct.