Greens leader apologises after faltering interview eclipses campaign launch

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's Green party has apologised after her party's election campaign launch on Tuesday was overshadowed by what she described as "a very bad" interview in which she struggled to explain her party's housing policy. The resurgent Greens are winning supporters from the opposition Labour party ahead of a close election on May 7 and although they may not capture any new seats in parliament - they have just one at present - a split in the left-of-centre vote could hand victory to Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives. But the party was embarrassed on Tuesday when its leader Natalie Bennett stumbled repeatedly when asked on LBC Radio how the Greens would pay for a plan to build 500,000 new social rental homes. "Right, well, that's, erm, you've got a total cost, erm, that will be spelt out in our manifesto," she said at one point. When the interviewer, who later described it as "one of the worst interviews ever by a political leader" pressed her, saying "So you don't know?" she responded "No, well, er". Bennett later said she had "a mental brain fade". "I had a very bad interview on housing this morning. I'm very happy to confess that and I'm very sorry to the Green party members who I didn't do a good job, any kind of job, representing our policies on," she told the BBC. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Stephen Addison)