Ed Miliband has launched a weekly podcast called Reasons to Be Cheerful in which he will discuss ideas about reforming leftwing politics, talk to comedians, and share stories about his life.
The former Labour leader lost the 2015 general election after struggling to connect with the wider public but has since developed a more relaxed public persona – presenting programmes on BBC Radio 2, wading into Twitter fights, and testing Snapchat filters for BuzzFeed News.
Miliband will cohost the podcast with Geoff Lloyd, a former Absolute Radio presenter, and they'll be recording it in Lloyd's house.
The pair met in 2015 when Lloyd interviewed Miliband and prompted him to open up about his personal life, an approach that won Miliband fans at a time when he was portrayed as cold and technocratic in the media.
On the podcast a self-deprecating Miliband said Lloyd's interview was a success because "you made me sound vaguely human" and joked that it was a shame Theresa May was in power as it means "we’ve now got a cyborg as prime minister".
Each week the pair will discuss one new idea about politics with an expert guest, starting with universal basic income.
"There are lots of good ideas out there, people think things are really unfair," said Miliband. "Hopefully this will become the place where people hear some of these ideas but not in a completely nerdy way.
"All of us who were involved in politics bear a responsibility for not having been imaginative enough to make those ideas happen. Now there might be an opportunity."
Miliband said he agreed to work with Lloyd because the radio presenter has a special Japanese toilet in his house. "It is a spectacular toilet," he added. "It looks like a normal toilet but it has these electrical devices next door to the toilet.”