Is Russell Brand the next mayor of London?

Russell Brand is thought to be considering a run for mayor of London, despite repeatedly saying that voting is a waste of time.

Brand, a vocal critic of mainstream politics, reportedly told friends he wants to unseat current mayor Boris Johnson at the next mayoral elections in 2016.

According to the Independent, Brand's spokeswoman refused to deny the rumours, telling the paper: "We are not commenting."

Brand, who was previously married to Katy Perry, has become increasingly outspoken in recent years about his disgust with current politics.

He has called for the abolition of Britain's monarchy, demanded more compassionate treatment of drug addicts and told interviewers that he never votes because he regards the current political system as skewed to benefit the rich.

While his views have seen him branded extremist in some of the media he has a large following among the young with 8.4 million Twitter followers.

Last week he stoked controversy by telling a BBC interviewer that he was "open-minded" about conspiracy theories blaming the 9/11 attacks on the US government.

He told BBC anchorman Evan Davis that he refused to rule out the possibility that the terror attacks were orchestrated by the American government and highlighted the "interesting" relationship between the families of former US president George Bush and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.