Hugh Grant Is Kicking Off At Politicians Again And We’re Obsessed

After Hugh Grant’s infamous tweet to Boris Johnson when he suspended parliament, we’ve been patiently waiting for the return of Hacked-Off Hugh. This morning, we got our wish when it was revealed that he is embroiled in a new spat with Chancellor Sajid Javid, all over a simple shake of the hand.

Essentially, Javid saw Grant at the film premiere of The Irishman earlier this month and approached him to shake his hand – to which Grant refused. Apparently, Grant has an axe to grind with Javid because of the way he reacted to victims of press abuse during his time as culture secretary.

‘He says, “I am not shaking your hand”. I am completely shocked,’ Javid told the Evening Standard. ‘He said, “When you were culture secretary you didn't support my friends in [anti-media intrusion campaign] Hacked Off.” I think that is incredibly rude.'

Hacked Off was a campaign for a public inquiry into phone hacking back in 2011, something Grant and many of his high-profile friends were victims of.

Adding an extra dig at the rom-com king, Javid implied that Grant had a classist attitude towards him. ‘I wonder if people like Hugh Grant think they are part of the elite and they look down on working-class people no matter what station they reach in life,’ he said.

But of course, Grant has fired back with his own version of events, stating that the victims he referred to were not elite celebrities but people with ‘personal family tragedies who had been abused by sections of the press’.

Apparently, when Javid extended his hand Grant actually said, ‘If you don’t mind, I won’t shake your hand because you were rude and dismissive to the victims of press abuse when you met them as culture secretary.’

Talking to the Press Association, a spokesperson for Grant added. ‘Hugh would like to point out that the victims in question were not celebrities. They were people with personal family tragedies who had been abused by sections of the press.’

During the meeting, Grant says Javid was ‘borderline contemptuous’, which seemingly left a sour taste in his mouth when it comes to meeting the now-Chancellor at social events.

To be perfectly honest, the most concerning part of all of this is that our current chancellor is starting public rows with a celebrity rather than focusing on the impending doom we’re all currently facing with Brexit. There’s literally a General Election next month: is this really the important issue he should be rehashing in interviews?

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