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Video: Comedian Eddie Izzard talks politics
Marathon man comic Eddie Izzard has left the door open to becoming a West Yorkshire MP.
Speaking to the YEP, Izzard, a passionate Labour Party supporter, said he wants to become a front rank politician in ten years time.
* Click here for more YEP General Election coverage.
He said his epic 1,105-mile journey last year, which involved running an incredible 43 marathons in 51 days, has given him lots of ideas of where he could launch his political career.
* Click here to read YEP political editor Mark Hookham's Westminster blog.
The 48-year-old rested overnight in Leeds after finishing his 36th marathon during the endurance feat last September.
He returned to the city on Thursday in a bid to boost Labour's election campaign.
He said: "I am going around a lot of key battlegrounds around England, Wales and Scotland and it's great.
"I said I am going to stand for election in 10 years as an MEP or MP or Mayor of London.
"I have run around the country and I do have a relationship with a lot of places in the country.
"I would be happy to stand anywhere that would have me."
On Thursday evening, Izzard joined Leeds Central parliamentary candidate Hilary Benn and around 100 other Labour supporters at a private party in Oracle bar in Brewery Wharf, Leeds.
The Labour faithful watched the second Prime Ministerial TV debate and
then had a short post-debate discussion chaired by the comedian.
Despite an opinion poll released minutes after the debate showing the Prime Minister coming third in the contest, Izzard insisted Gordon Brown had done "very well" and claimed that Tory support has "collapsed" in recent weeks.
And in a bid to lift the spirits of the party's rank-and-file in Yorkshire, he branded the latest batch of opinion polls "rubbish".
He admitted that he agreed with some of the points made by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg during the debate but said David Cameron had "under-performed".
He told the YEP: "Everyone was laying punches but no one was destroying anyone.
"I have a vested interest as a Labour Party supporter, so I'm not going to move that much.
"I'm not going to be swayed that much by what people say but again it shows that everyone is intelligent.
"In American politics they had Sarah Palin coming in and saying really odd things, George W Bush, even Ronald Reagan– what the hell! Some of
the stuff he was saying!
"At least everyone is stringing sentences together and being thoughtful about it."
And he insisted the election was still wide open.
"Think about six months ago and think about where we are now. The Tory support has collapsed, the Lib Dems have come up and we have stayed fairly in a similar place.
"So I think it's good for democracy – everything is to play for," he said.
Izzard hit the campaign trail in the marginal constituency of Pudsey on Friday, where he met staff and shoppers at Morrisons in Horsforth.
* Standing in Pudsey are: Stuart Andrew (Conservative), David Dews (UKIP), Ian Gibson (BNP), Jamie Hanley (Labour), Jamie Matthews (Liberal Democrat).
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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