Editing Hugh Grant (section)

=== Phone hacking exposé ===
{{Main| News International phone hacking scandal}}
In April 2011, Grant published an article in the ''[[New Statesman]]'' titled "The Bugger, Bugged"<ref name="NewStatesman" /> about a conversation (following an earlier encounter) with [[Paul McMullan (journalist)|Paul McMullan]], a former journalist and paparazzo for ''[[News of the World]]''. In unguarded comments which were secretly taped by Grant, McMullan alleged that editors at the ''Daily Mail'' and ''News of the World'', particularly [[Andy Coulson]], had ordered journalists to engage in illegal [[Telephone tapping|phone tapping]] and had done so with the full knowledge of senior British politicians. McMullan also said that every British Prime Minister from [[Margaret Thatcher]] onwards had cultivated a close relationship with [[Rupert Murdoch]] and his senior executives. He stressed the friendship between [[David Cameron]] and [[Rebekah Brooks]] (née Wade), agreeing when asked that both of them must have been aware of illegal phone tapping, and asserting that Cameron's inaction could be explained by self-interest: "Cameron is very much in debt to [[Rebekah Brooks|Rebekah Wade]] for helping him not quite win the election ... So that was my submission to parliament – that Cameron's either a liar or an idiot."<ref name="NewStatesman" />

When asked by Grant whether Cameron had encouraged the [[Metropolitan Police]] to "drag their feet" on investigating illegal phone tapping by Murdoch's journalists, McMullan agreed this had happened, and stated that police themselves had taken bribes from tabloid journalists: "20 percent of the Met has taken backhanders from tabloid hacks. So why would they want to open up that can of worms?... And what's wrong with that, anyway? It doesn't hurt anyone particularly."<ref name="NewStatesman" />

Grant's article attracted considerable interest, due to both the revelatory content of the taped conversation, and the novelty of his "turning the tables" on a tabloid journalist.<ref name="Guardian-2011-04-16" />

While the allegations regarding the ''News of the World'' continued to receive coverage in the broadsheets and similar media (Grant appeared, for example, on [[BBC Radio 4]]) it was only with the revelation that the voicemail of [[Murder of Milly Dowler|murdered Milly Dowler]] had been hacked, and evidence for her murder enquiry had been deleted, that the coverage turned from media interest to widespread public (and eventually political) outrage. Grant became something of a spokesman against Murdoch's [[News Corporation]], culminating in his appearance on BBC television's ''[[Question Time (TV programme)|Question Time]]'' in July 2011.<ref name="guardian-2011-07-08" /> Grant later said: "It's been fascinating to have a little excursion into another world. I really needed that and also to be dealing with real life instead of creating synthetic life, which is what I've been doing for the last 25 years."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ukscreen.com/articles/interviews/hugh-grant-prefers-politics-to-acting/|title=Hugh Grant prefers politics to acting|first=Husam Sam|last=Asi|date=8 March 2012|publisher= UKScreen.com|access-date=31 January 2014}}</ref>

On 5 February 2018, [[Reach plc|Mirror Group Newspapers]] apologised for its actions towards Grant and other public figures, calling the affair "morally wrong". This came after Grant accepted a six-figure sum to settle a High Court action.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Moore|first1=Matthew|title=Mirror Group pays Hugh Grant six-figure sum for hacking|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/mirror-group-pays-hugh-grant-six-figure-sum-for-hacking-r372w2zt2|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=6 February 2018|date=6 February 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Evans|first1=Martin|title=Mirror Group pays damages to Hugh Grant after admitting a 'decade of unlawful intrusion'|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/05/mirror-group-pays-damages-hugh-grant-admitting-decade-unlawful/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/05/mirror-group-pays-damages-hugh-grant-admitting-decade-unlawful/ |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|newspaper=The Telegraph|access-date=6 February 2018|date=5 February 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He donated the payout to the press campaign group ''[[Hacked Off]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Gayle|first1=Damien|last2=Rawlinson|first2=Kevin|title=Mirror Group admits bosses 'turned blind eye' to phone hacking|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/feb/05/hugh-grant-wins-damages-from-mirror-phone-hacking-case|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=6 February 2018|date=5 February 2018}}</ref>

In April 2024 Grant announced that he had settled a case against the publisher of ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'', News Group Newspapers (NGN). In the case, Grant had claimed journalists employed by NGN had used private investigators to tap his phone and burgle his house. Grant said he "did not want to accept" the "enormous sum of money" he had been offered to settle—but that a trial was likely to prove "very expensive". Grant further stated that had he proceeded he would have faced a bill of up to £10 million even if he had won the case. NGN denied the claims against it.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-04-17 |title=Hugh Grant settles privacy case against Sun publisher |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68834392 |access-date=2024-04-17 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>