Daniel Radcliffe endorses Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour leadership ballot may have closed, but that hasn’t stopped Jeremy Corbyn securing some magical new backing.

The favourite to take over the Labour party has some support from Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe.

Jeremy Corbyn buys The Big Issue from a vendor in Newcastle in 2015

Jeremy Corbyn buys The Big Issue from a vendor in Newcastle in 2015

The actor told The Big Issue that he warmed to Corbyn because he reminded him of a favourite teacher. However, despite the beard and an attachment to old ways of doing things it’s not Dumbledore Radcliffe is thinking of.

The Big Issue: You have been away a few months – have you noticed a change in the country?

Daniel Radcliffe: “I am fresh to it all but it is incredible what is happening with the Labour leadership election. It is so nice to have people excited about somebody. We are so used to politicians lying. For my entire lifetime, I have never looked at a politician and thought what they were saying was true. Even when they are being sincere, it feels so scripted. This show of sincerity by a man who has stuck to his beliefs long enough that he knows them and doesn’t have to be scripted is making people sit up and get excited. I read Tories were signing up to Labour to vote for Corbyn. I hope it blows up in their face – an amazing display of arrogance.”

Last time we spoke you were underwhelmed by every politician on offer.

“It is generally underwhelming but I feel like I left for two months and walked back into a country where people were excited about politics again. The parties got so close, not just in terms of their policies but of the background of the politicians. It was so similar I think a lot of people didn’t feel that voting would effect change. But now there could be a real choice.”

It is just so nice to have people excited about somebody

Does this mean you are Team Corbyn? You do sound quite enthusiastic.

“No. It’s just that when I was about 16 I gave an interview where I talked about the LibDems, and the next day they wrote that I was a LibDem. A few years later I mention Labour, and they wrote that I had defected. So I am going to read a lot more before I weigh into this one. I am just happy that young people are excited by a politician, which is something I didn’t think I would see again. It happened in America in the most amazing way with Obama, and that politicised a whole generation of people. It would be really exciting if that happened here. In the only casual interview I saw with Corbyn, he talks about his allotment and making jam. He reminds me, in the loveliest way, of my English teacher, who is someone I am very, very fond of – so he has a fast track to my heart…”

Radcliffe is back in the UK to promote a new BBC2 drama, The Gamechangers, in which he plays Sam Houser, videogame producer and one of the creative forces behind the Grand Theft Auto gaming phenomenon. He also stars alongside James McAvoy in a new film version of Victor Frankenstein.

For a full interview with Radcliffe, more on Corbyn, Trump and living with the legacy of Harry Potter, see The Big Issue on Monday (September 14).