Cliff Notes – Hugh Grant proudly holds sign with campaigners outside Labour Party conference
- Hugh Grant joined campaigners from Hacked Off and 38 Degrees at the Labour Party Conference, advocating for press reform and accountability.
- The actor is supporting a petition aimed at introducing new laws to protect the public from press misconduct, which has garnered 35,000 signatures.
- Grant, a victim of the phone hacking scandal, has become increasingly politically active, expressing concerns about the integrity of the UK press and the political landscape.
Hugh Grant proudly holds sign with campaigners outside Labour Party conference
Hugh Grant (centre) joins campaigners from Hacked Off and 38 Degrees outside the Labour Party Conference (Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Hugh Grant was among the campaigners outside the Labour Party Conference at the ACC Liverpool on Monday afternoon.
The Heretic actor, 65, joined campaigners from Hacked Off and 38 Degrees in Liverpool on Monday.
The actor has been a vocal supporter of both groups for some time and was seen shaking hands and chatting with many of his fellow campaigners.
He carried a sign reading ‘Britain deserves a better press,’ and smiled for a promotional shot with the group.
Hugh and Jacqui Hames have recently introduced a new campaign to calling for the introduction of a new law to ‘protect the public from press lies and abuse’.
Sharing a link to the campaign the actor wrote on X: ‘More now then ever, in a world in which truth and honest reporting is dying in front of our eyes, let’s put a fire under weak politicians and get a decent, brave UK press.’
The Labour Party conference took place on Monday (Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
The actor chatted with fellow activists (Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
As of September 29, the petition has 35,000 signatures, with an aim to get to 40,000.
The petition details: ‘For too long, the UK press have bullied people, harassed grieving families, and destroyed lives, all to sell papers. We’ve all seen the heartbreaking consequences.
‘They’ve hacked phones, listened to private messages, and published people’s personal information for profit. Time and again, parts of the UK press have shown that they can’t be trusted.’
The Notting Hill star was one of the celebrities who was affected by the phone hacking scandal in 2012.
Hugh settled a claim against NGN relating to unlawful information gathering at the News Of The World in 2012 and in 2024 settled a lawsuit against The Sun in 2024.
The star has been vocal about his support (Picture: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
Hugh was previously a victim of phone hacking (Picture: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Hugh has been a vocal political activist, spending the last decade, even admitting that he considered a career in politics at one point.
‘It has crossed my mind. But what I really see close up is that it’s almost impossible to actually get anything done. It’s just impossible. You’ve got to bring so many people with you,’ He told Entertainment Weekly.
In the same interview, he explained: ‘I was really not interested in politics at all until I was about 50. I sneered at politics, and then, I found myself campaigning about the abuse of power in the British tabloid press here in the UK I spent an awful lot of time in the House of Parliament lobbying politicians and got to know them up close and see what weird specimens they were or became in the course of their careers.
‘Very often starting with conviction and passion and ending up a couple of decades later, these slightly monstrous professionals of the political game of snakes and ladders.
‘Their priorities were 1.) their own career, 2.) their own party and smashing the other party, and somewhere, way down the list, was what’s good for the country.’
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