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At the beginning of this week, Owen Jones mobilised thousands of Londoners to gather at Downing Street on a drizzly Monday night to protest against President Trump’s travel ban. On Tuesday the socialist author hit the headlines for challenging Piers Morgan’s accusation that the protests were hypocritical. By Wednesday, Jones was ready for some escapism. He watched The Bodyguard.

“I don’t often enjoy what I do, which is why I have to watch trashy Nineties films,” says Jones, who despite being teased for looking like a teenager is 32 years old. “People on the Right think the Left protest for a laugh but protests are not fun and politics is a necessary evil, a mean-spirited world. I do it because the stakes are so high.”

Jones apologises for being late — he was locked out of the flat he rents in the Corbyn heartland of Islington and shares with a hyperactive cat named after the first Labour MP, Keir Hardie. He buys the tea, although he speaks too quickly to drink it, casually summoning statistics and quoting economists.

He organised the protest on Twitter and Facebooka at 3am on Sunday. “I went to bed and the next morning it had gone like wildfire. Trump’s election was a shock, a lot of people felt in 2016 they were spectators to a horror film, and they were stuck yelling at the TV. With this protest people thought they could do something by putting pressure on our government.”

Anti-Trump sentiment transcends party politics, he says. “Rachel Johnson was on the demo, although her brother is Foreign Secretary.” Jones likes Johnson: she published his first article, in The Lady, giving him £200 to pay the rent when he was “skint”. Since then he’s become a figurehead for the Left, despite insisting he “had no game plan”. “All that happened was I wrote a book, Chavs, in 2011 and was asked to go on TV.”

Since then, “we’ve had a tidal wave of populism”. “It’s about scapegoating foreigners for the ills for society. People have different views on immigration but this has been a sobering moment where people have been grabbed by the lapels and think it’s gone a bit far and we can’t let this continue. If Trump’s bigotry, misogyny and authoritarianism aren’t challenged at the outset and if you get a reputable ally, like Theresa May, standing side by side with him, it will empower him.”

What does he make of the argument that Trump wants protests, to exhaust the Left and paint them as hysterical bad losers? “There’s no point trying to second-guess Trump. If we end up with a situation where the most powerful man on Earth implemented the bigoted ban he did and no one protested, that would be alarming.”

Despite being democratically elected Trump is weak, says Jones, with “calamitous” popularity ratings only two weeks into his presidency.

Jones is on a roll now. “It’s important at the outset not to normalise Trump and these global protests are stopping that. They’re putting pressure on democrats in America not to work with him because that will normalise and strengthen him.”

Jones was in Washington DC for the inauguration and met Trump voters. “They were a chirpy lot in their red hats. They weren’t bothered by what Trump says about women, they said, ‘That’s how all men speak, don’t you speak like that?’ I didn’t correct them or say my sexuality precludes that.” He went on the anti-Trump Women’s March, where his favourite banner was, “I’m not a sign guy but Jeez”.

Jones has a ready rebuff to the argument that protests only serve to give the liberal elite a comforting ego boost, listing protests that have changed history. “LGBT people wouldn’t have their rights without protest. I don’t think protest will solve everything. I urged people to write to their Conservative MPs to put pressure on Theresa May’s Trump policy. She’s leaving the single market, which we don’t have to do. We’ll end up being a client state of Trump’s America. I don’t think that’s taking back control of Britain.”

Thousands of protesters march to Downing Street in Trump rally 36 show all Thousands of protesters march to Downing Street in Trump rally 1/36 Caricatures: Unflattering pictures of the UK and US leaders. AFP/Getty Images 2/36 'No to racism': Protesters outside Downing Street. AFP/Getty Images 3/36 Demo: Crowds packed out Whitehall to Parliament Square. PA 4/36 Thousands: Westminster police tweeted this photo. MPS Westminster 5/36 'One nationality': Many signs carried pro immigration messages. REUTERS 6/36 Dogs against Trump: One protester takes a break at the Westminster rally. REUTERS 7/36 Speaker: Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti speaking to the crowd. Getty Images 8/36 'Full of garbage': A sign in Downing Street. Getty Images 9/36 Prime Minister: Many banners carried messages targeting Theresa May, Getty Images 10/36 'Dump Trump': The signs carried personal attacks on the US President. Getty Images 11/36 No Trump: Protesters chant and march. Getty Images 12/36 Never again: Some posters looked back to the past. AFP/Getty Images 13/36 Packed: Many protesters remarked at the amount of people. AFP/Getty Images 14/36 Standstill: Buses had to divert because of the crowds. PA 15/36 Anger: People demonstrate during a protest at Downing Street in central London. PA 16/36 Crowds: Hordes of people took to the streets. Getty Images 17/36 Anti-Trump: Thousands of people have slammed the President's policy. Getty Images 18/36 Messages for May: Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside Downing Street. Getty Images 19/36 'Never again': Demonstrators march along Downing Street. Getty Images 20/36 'Muslim ban': Londoners marched with placards with messages for the PM. Getty Images 21/36 NO: The anti-Trump rally spilled onto the road. Getty Images 22/36 Humour: A sign drawing on a Mary Poppins pun. Caroline Lee 23/36 Chants: The crowds were heard chanting 'shame on May'. Getty Images 24/36 Welcome refugees: Protesters on Monday evening. PA 25/36 Landmark: The iconic London eye seen in the background. PA 26/36 'Dangerous': One of the anti-Trump protesters. Lydia Ruffles 27/36 Anti-Trump: Signs carried harsh words for the US leader. Emma Gibson 28/36 Blocked: Protesters said Whitehall was brought to a standstill. Garry Knight 29/36 'Resist': A sign in Whitehall. Spectrum SINO Radio 30/36 'Bridges not walls': Many of the banners carried pro-globalization messages. Jessica Voorsanger 31/36 Rally: The first crowds forming at the protest, which began at 6pm. Garry Knight 32/36 United: Stop the War Coalition joined the protest. PA 33/36 Gathered: People listened to speakers who fired up the crowd. Getty Images 34/36 We stand together: Among the figures who were expected to attend were Lily Allen and Ed Miliband. Getty Images 35/36 March: Some of the protesters holding placards. Getty Images 36/36 Together: People of all ages joined in the rally. Getty Images 1/36 Caricatures: Unflattering pictures of the UK and US leaders. AFP/Getty Images 2/36 'No to racism': Protesters outside Downing Street. AFP/Getty Images 3/36 Demo: Crowds packed out Whitehall to Parliament Square. PA 4/36 Thousands: Westminster police tweeted this photo. MPS Westminster 5/36 'One nationality': Many signs carried pro immigration messages. REUTERS 6/36 Dogs against Trump: One protester takes a break at the Westminster rally. REUTERS 7/36 Speaker: Shadow Attorney General Shami Chakrabarti speaking to the crowd. Getty Images 8/36 'Full of garbage': A sign in Downing Street. Getty Images 9/36 Prime Minister: Many banners carried messages targeting Theresa May, Getty Images 10/36 'Dump Trump': The signs carried personal attacks on the US President. Getty Images 11/36 No Trump: Protesters chant and march. Getty Images 12/36 Never again: Some posters looked back to the past. AFP/Getty Images 13/36 Packed: Many protesters remarked at the amount of people. AFP/Getty Images 14/36 Standstill: Buses had to divert because of the crowds. PA 15/36 Anger: People demonstrate during a protest at Downing Street in central London. PA 16/36 Crowds: Hordes of people took to the streets. Getty Images 17/36 Anti-Trump: Thousands of people have slammed the President's policy. Getty Images 18/36 Messages for May: Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside Downing Street. Getty Images 19/36 'Never again': Demonstrators march along Downing Street. Getty Images 20/36 'Muslim ban': Londoners marched with placards with messages for the PM. Getty Images 21/36 NO: The anti-Trump rally spilled onto the road. Getty Images 22/36 Humour: A sign drawing on a Mary Poppins pun. Caroline Lee 23/36 Chants: The crowds were heard chanting 'shame on May'. Getty Images 24/36 Welcome refugees: Protesters on Monday evening. PA 25/36 Landmark: The iconic London eye seen in the background. PA 26/36 'Dangerous': One of the anti-Trump protesters. Lydia Ruffles 27/36 Anti-Trump: Signs carried harsh words for the US leader. Emma Gibson 28/36 Blocked: Protesters said Whitehall was brought to a standstill. Garry Knight 29/36 'Resist': A sign in Whitehall. Spectrum SINO Radio 30/36 'Bridges not walls': Many of the banners carried pro-globalization messages. Jessica Voorsanger 31/36 Rally: The first crowds forming at the protest, which began at 6pm. Garry Knight 32/36 United: Stop the War Coalition joined the protest. PA 33/36 Gathered: People listened to speakers who fired up the crowd. Getty Images 34/36 We stand together: Among the figures who were expected to attend were Lily Allen and Ed Miliband. Getty Images 35/36 March: Some of the protesters holding placards. Getty Images 36/36 Together: People of all ages joined in the rally. Getty Images

He admits that “it’s tiring, struggling”. “Resignation is a danger, saying injustice is like the weather, there’s no point complaining because it will still rain. That has to be challenged and it is why optimism is important. My parents were Leftie and wanted me to stay away from the Left, sack it off, because they thought they’d wasted their lives. My rebellion was against their defeatism.” He stays positive by taking a long view. “Things change but only if people will it to be. There is a massive mountain to climb. We are up against creeping proto-fascism.”

Jones was in America researching his new book, The Politics of Hope, “which I appreciate sounds like satire. I chose to write it partly to cheer myself up.” He’s travelling the world talking to people who are struggling to find out what they think works. He likes meeting people but the next part is a slow process. “I don’t enjoy writing, which is a problem. I’m not even that good. I do it as a means to an end to raise issues.”

A “failure of communication” on the Left is something Jones is painfully aware of. He admits he’s guilty of “chin-stroking”. “The left, myself included, has failed to get its message across and the populist right has benefited.” He is still a firm Labour supporter but if there was a leadership election he says: “The Left has failed badly. I’d find it hard to vote for Corbyn.”

He’s sympathetic, though, to the Labour leader’s three-line whip to vote for Article 50. “If you’re seen to overturn the democratic will of the people, that will upset many. Equally, some Labour MPs don’t have a choice but to rebel because they represent Remain constituencies.”

When Corbyn announced he was standing for leader, Jones “thought he wouldn’t get on the ballot paper and it’d end up embarrassing the Left. Jeremy said to me, ‘If I get 25 per cent of the vote, that’s good, isn’t it?” Jones saw him as “a transitional figure who stood out of duty when the party risked moving to the Right. He didn’t expect to win.” Has that lack of ambition caused problems? “They have made lots of bad mistakes. There’s been a lack of strategy, communication, vision. If there’s an election now Jeremy will go and a new leader will probably shift the party to the Right. He won’t last unless he turns things around.”

Would Jones go into politics? “What I do is politics. I’ve been asked to stand repeatedly, without sounding big-headed. I wouldn’t rule it out but I’d only do it if I thought it was useful. At the last election I tried to support candidates from backgrounds under-represented in Parliament. There are lots of white men who used to be journalists in politics — take Boris Johnson and Michael Gove — that’s not a good precedent for me.”

He’d back a younger leader, “able to keep Labour’s fractured coalition together. Blairist centrism is dead.” He “loves” Ed Miliband and would like to see him in the shadow cabinet.

Criticising Labour is thorny ground. Jones “doesn’t want to get a violin out” but has received death threats from the far-Right and vicious insults on the Left. “There are Labour supporters wedded to Corbyn as an individual who won’t take any criticism whatsoever. I’ve been called a Right-wing careerist for questioning Corbyn and got a lot of stick. The idea of witch-hunting people who dare to criticise your leader looks cult-like and doesn’t attract anyone. And women with opinions get horrible abuse — some men hate women with opinions both on the Right and the Left.”

“Tragically”, he’s lost friends over politics. “What matters is living a happy life and politics is about building a world where that is possible. When politics is so polarised that it gets in the way of friendships, that’s sad.”

There’s a strand of performance on social media, he says, that is “corrupting any kind of political debate because these people aren’t about being rational”. At the moment people are posting pictures of Jones at an event with controversial alt-Right poster boy Milo Yiannopoulos. “I remember him being mischievous,” says Jones. “Now he’s this pin-up for the proto-fascist movement. It’s partly performance and bizarre attention-seeking. You wonder whether he believes it.”

A robust defence of his own rationale comes easily to Jones. His family berate him for being Right-wing while his twin sister, a tattooed Berlin-based artist, “the pretty, cool one”, “once said I was part of the system”. His parents were Trotskyists who met leafleting in Balham in 1968. His mother was an IT lecturer and his father started out working full-time for the Militant Tendency before taking a job at Sheffield City Council, “because they had four kids and fighting for the revolution doesn’t pay the bills”.

Rachel Johnson isn’t his only Right-wing comrade and lots of his friends aren’t political. “If that was the case I’d go mad.”

Would he go out with a Conservative? He blushes. “I can’t wear a badge saying I’ve never kissed a Tory because that would be factually wrong. I’d find it hard to imagine going out with a Conservative because what I believe is so central to everything I do. I’m writing about hope because I think things can change. The future does not belong to Donald Trump.”

Follow Susannah Butter on Twitter: @susannahbutter