View all newsletters
Sign up to our newsletters

Support 110 years of independent journalism.

  1. Science & Tech
14 May 2011updated 01 Jul 2021 11:53am

Hugh Grant: tabloid scrutiny is like living under the Stasi

In the wake of his New Statesman scoop, the actor debates privacy and superinjunctions.

By Helen Lewis

Newsnight tackled the issue of privacy and injunctions last night and its panellists included Hugh Grant, Helen Wood (the prostitute in the Rooney case), the journalist Fraser Nelson and the lawyer Charlotte Harris.

“I don’t have many strongly held beliefs but I do believe in human rights . . . and a very basic right is the right to privacy,” said Grant. “I do think it is a massive scandal . . . that, for a number of years now, our tabloid newspapers have been able to invade privacy without much recourse.

“Some cases [are] for good reason but many of the celebrity exposés are purely for profit, so to me there’s no distinction between mugging someone for their wallet and their watch and selling it on the street and mugging them for their privacy and selling it in a newspaper.”

Asked by Emily Maitlis how tabloid scrutiny affects his life, Grant said:

Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU

It’s a bit like living under the Stasi. You never know if there’s a long lens in the bushes at the end of my road . . . I’ve had my phone hacked — the police have told me that now. They’re always looking for anyone you might have been in contact with, any hotel you might have stayed at — they might go and talk to them, try to pay them off. I’m not a perfect person by any means but it doesn’t feel right that, just because you’ve had a bit of success, in this country one of your most basic human rights is removed.

Grant added that he was “very pleased with this whole injunction business” , as without a steady diet of celebrity kiss’n’tells, tabloids would go out of business. “There’s very little journalism done in those papers now,” he said. “It’s mainly stealing successful people’s privacy and selling it.”

The Spectator editor (and News of the World columnist) Fraser Nelson then tried to argue that the press was already effectively regulated by the PCC. “You can’t say that in a serious voice,” chipped in Grant.

Nelson said that his magazine received “lots” of letters from the regulatory body and took them seriously. Grant was unimpressed: “The PCC is the laughing stock of the world. Utterly toothless.”

He said that even in “outrageous” cases, such as when the Mirror printed his medical records, “You might get a tiny little thing saying ‘Hugh Grant’s complaint against the Mirror has been upheld’ on page 96.”

Charlotte Harris, a lawyer at Mishcon, backed Grant, saying that the PCC weren’t effective — “and weren’t interested in phone-hacking”. She said that behind almost every tabloid splash was a cash negotiation of what the story was worth.

The former escort Helen Wood then argued that injunctions were unfair because the man involved was protected while she wasn’t — which sounds like an argument for making the system fairer and making injunctions available to those without tens of thousands of pounds to spare, rather than scrapping them.

Afterwards, it was time for round two of Grant v Nelson, with the actor telling the journalist: “If someone came after your privacy . . . and said Fraser Nelson is getting up to all kinds of mischief with this girl who’s dressed as a nun and likes to spank him in a nappy . . .”

“That would never get out, that story,” interjected Nelson.

“I don’t believe that story either,” conceded Grant. “But you would take out an injunction to try to stop it.”

It’s worth watching the programme in full as the debate is a cracker, with Harris explaining the difference between injunctions and superinjunctions, and Grant admitting, “men are naughty” and complaining of the “successive pussy governments” that have refused to tackle the problem.

Before the discussion, there’s also the treat of Kelvin MacKenzie intoning this ominous warning: “I have a piece of information which will rather nicely depth-charge a cabinet minister, probably towards the end of next week when I publish it in my column.”

Content from our partners
The promise of prevention
How Labour hopes to make the UK a leader in green energy
Is now the time to rethink health and care for older people? With Age UK

Topics in this article :
Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
  • Administration / Office
  • Arts and Culture
  • Board Member
  • Business / Corporate Services
  • Client / Customer Services
  • Communications
  • Construction, Works, Engineering
  • Education, Curriculum and Teaching
  • Environment, Conservation and NRM
  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
  • Finance Management
  • Health - Medical and Nursing Management
  • HR, Training and Organisational Development
  • Information and Communications Technology
  • Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives
  • Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities
  • Legal Officers and Practitioners
  • Librarians and Library Management
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • OH&S, Risk Management
  • Operations Management
  • Planning, Policy, Strategy
  • Printing, Design, Publishing, Web
  • Projects, Programs and Advisors
  • Property, Assets and Fleet Management
  • Public Relations and Media
  • Purchasing and Procurement
  • Quality Management
  • Science and Technical Research and Development
  • Security and Law Enforcement
  • Service Delivery
  • Sport and Recreation
  • Travel, Accommodation, Tourism
  • Wellbeing, Community / Social Services
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
THANK YOU