Hugh Grant’s tactical defeat
THE English actor was very outspoken in the run up to the General Election, taking on his critics with wit and vocalising his personal views on the Conservative Government.
The man who famously played Britain’s best-loved fictional prime minister in Love Actually is an archremainer who used his social media platforms to encourage voters to do what they could to oust Boris Johnson and his cronies.
So who did Hugh Grant vote for? Of course we don’t know that but you can bet your life savings that it wasn’t Conservative. The formerly foppish actor, who made his name in cheesy rom-coms, aligned himself with the Liberal Democrats, canvassing with Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger, during the campaign and joined Labour’s hopeful canvassing against Iain Duncan Smith, in Essex, and backed independent candidate Claire Wright in East Devon.
Why did he do that?
A fierce proponent of tactical voting to bar the Tories from power, Mr Grant was lending his support to campaigns that could have deprived the Conservatives of a majority in parliament.
He wrote on The Independent website: “To me, Brexit is a giant con that will hobble our economy, break up the UK and tragically sedate the proud British lion ... this isn’t a normal election. Brexit sits like an incubus on its back. People’s Brexit opinions will greatly skew normal voting patterns. “
He’s no fan of Boris Johnson then?
Absolutely, definitely not. He has described the prime minister as a “weak little Narcissus” and an “over-promoted rubber bath toy”. When Mr Johnson spoofed the famous Love Actually scene in a campaign video, Mr Grant had a withering response, saying in an interview: “I did notice that one of the cards from the original film that he didn’t hold up was the one [...] saying, ‘Because at Christmas you tell the truth.’
“And I just wonder if the spin doctors in the Tory Party thought that was a card that wouldn’t look too great in Boris Johnson’s hands.”
Does he have any previous political experience?
Not unless you include his roles as beloved PM David in 2003’s Richard Curtis film, and Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal, released in 2018.
But that shouldn’t and didn’t stop him from becoming an activist after the announcement of the election in October.
How has he taken on his trolls? Unsurprisingly Mr Grant has taken some flak over his political stance but he’s not biting. He even posted his own 1995 mugshot on Twitter after critics bombarded his timeline with mentions of his own indiscretions – including his arrest alongside sex worker Divine Brown in Los Angeles.
Broadcaster Piers Morgan took swipes at Grant throughout the campaign but reached peak taunt yesterday morning. He claimed that Grant and comedian Steve Coogan, another advocate of tactical voting, had paved the way for Boris Johnson’s victory. Previously Morgan had referred to the actor as “Halo Hugh… Britain’s moral standard-bearer”, posting a photo of the infamous mug shot with no response from Grant.