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From independent.co.uk, 22 April 2007. Interview by Julia Stuart.

I've led a very sheltered and protected life and not had much responsibility. That's the nature of being in a band on tour. You have people there whose job it is to do stuff to make sure you're at the show on time. That doesn't encourage you to grow up particularly. Now that we're not on the road so much I've found that I've had to grow up quite quickly. One thing I've found is that, rather boringly, I feel a sense of responsibility for my neighbours and the area where I live. It's not sexy and it's not very rock'n'roll, but it led to me getting involved with my local Labour Party four or five years ago. I became chair of the local party last year and a couple of by-elections came up, one of which was in my branch, so I stood for it.

There was no particular cause that spurred me into it. It's to do with following my conscience and trying to do what's right rather than what's convenient. It's about trying to get a bit more involved in life and being a little less insulated from everything as I feel I have been for the past 15 years in the band. I've had a house in London, but basically lived around the world.

I certainly have some skills for politics. I'm good with people. I've got lots of energy. I'm good at fighting for things that I believe in, and I suppose that makes me quite a natural local politician. The trouble with local politics is that the issues sound ridiculous, almost comical, when you put them in the context of a national newspaper. This week's campaign is a school that is across a main road from a residential area, but there's no pedestrian crossing. There's no grand banner-waving going on. That's why local politics don't attract people. There's not much in it apart from the satisfaction of taking up the cause on behalf of somebody and trying to get something done about it.

Being in a band is good training for being part of a political party because there are a lot of competing interests. Everybody involved has a different idea of what the band should sound like, and what comes out on the records is an amalgam of the best of them all. The same is true of the Labour Party. There are a lot of different political interests, ideas and competing priorities. What comes out of it, you hope, is the best of all those ideas.

So many bands split up and cite musical differences, or there are often rumours about money, but the reality more often than not is that the people haven't learnt to get along. There are all these amazing bands that don't get back together just because the people can't stand each other any more, like Pink Floyd or The Who. They go on stage and don't even look at each other. They haven't mastered the art of getting on with people. It's the politics of being in a band that's difficult. That's why Blur has been silent for so long. There's a week in the diary at the end of the year when we're going to get back together and see how it goes.

Damon [Albarn, Blur's frontman] is very excited about my involvement in politics. He's a political activist and I think he wishes everybody in the world was one. I saw him at his gig the other week. We go up to Alex's [James, the bassist] for lunch. It's nice seeing them. It's telling that all of us have one sister and no brothers. We became like the brothers we didn't have. Things get strained because we have become each other's surrogate family, and family relations are always difficult. But you do always love each other.

There are a lot of similarities between what Blair did for the Labour Party and what we did as Blur. He's got the gift as a narrator. He can get up on a podium and put his case convincingly so you believe him and trust him, which is the basic skill of a politician. Even though we have done some ridiculous things in our career, and made some stupid mistakes, we have always been able to get up on stage and play and just blow people away. We have managed to convince people that we were something by just being able to do it.

As for people thinking politics must be boring compared to rock and roll, Charlie Watts's quote was very telling. When asked what it was like being in The Rolling Stones for 25 years he said it was like being in the Stones for five years and sitting around for 20 years. Being in a band on tour is mostly travelling. There's plenty of boring downtime. There are a couple of hours when you're doing what you're paid to do. There are good and bad aspects to any job.

After 10 years everyone in the country will be able to find something that the Government has done that they don't like. The Labour Party is so down in the dumps that people are scared to identify with it at the moment. But what I'm finding in the streets is that a lot of people are coming up and saying: "Thanks very much for doing this." Supporters want some reason to say, "I do support Labour", despite everything that is going on.

The war in Iraq is not something I really want to set my stall out about. It's the most divisive issue of the past 10 years. My main feeling is: thank God I didn't have to take that decision. It must have been the hardest decision of Tony Blair's life. I think a lot of people at the time felt something had to be done about Saddam, a crackpot dictator who murdered his own people indiscriminately. However, it would be hard to find many people who support the way that peace has been handled.

Do I have aspirations to be an MP? I'm just following my nose at the moment. There are two weeks to go to the elections. My chances of winning are slim. The Tories had 70 per cent of the vote at the last election and the Labour Party was slightly more popular then. If I lose I'll still be chair of my local branch for another nine months - I'm not going to resign in a petulant fit if I don't win.