Brand taunts Straw over son's drugs

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Brand, who was pictured among the demonstrators at last week's G20 protests, wrote it was "no wonder" that Mr Straw's son took drugs when his father had "squandered £7 billion" sending British troops to Iraq while he was foreign secretary in 2003.

Mr Straw's son William was cautioned by police in 1997 after he was caught trying to sell cannabis to an undercover reporter.

Brand, 33, who quit the BBC last year after he and Jonathan Ross left a series of obscene messages on actor Andrew Sachs's answering machine, wrote the comments on his Twitter page, where he uses the nickname "rustyrockets".

"I demand Jack Straw pays the £7 billion he squandered on the Iraq war that we didn't want," he posted. "No wonder his son has to toke himself to sleep."

Toke is a slang word for smoking cannabis.

Mr Straw's son now works for the Centre for American Progress, a US political think-tank, and recently edited a pamphlet on the lessons Labour could learn from US President Barack Obama's successful election campaign. There is no suggestion that he is still involved in illegal drugs.

Will Straw said he had no comment to make on Brand's remarks.

Brand also made light of the £150,000 fine imposed by Ofcom on the BBC for the prank calls scandal. "What do 'Ofcom' do with all that money? What is their mandate? I think they spend it all on porn. As head of 'Ofporn' I fine them £150000. x," he wrote.

The comments about Ofcom appeared to be in response to suggestions that Brand and Ross should pay the £150,000 fine themselves, rather than leaving it to the BBC.