Russell Brand’s hairy chest was hard to miss when he toured the Palace of Westminster yesterday. He seemed to have barely more than two shirt buttons done up. The comedian sat in the front row of the Strangers’ Gallery of the Commons and listened to Justice Questions. Brand has given evidence before on drugs policies to the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Is he researching material on the gay marriage debates? A Commons flunkey rushed off to fetch Brand a copy of Monday’s Hansard which reported the first day of those debates.
Brand was being shown around by a suited, official-looking blonde whose body language (gushes of laughter, pinkening face, frantic rearranging of hair) suggested a certain discombobulation. Brand was chatting to her so loudly that she had to remind him of the rules about keeping silent in the gallery, holding up a coquettish finger to her lips as she did so.
