Hugh Grant urges UK public to ‘destroy’ Rishi Sunak in general election
‘Notting Hill’ star has long been outspoken on subject of politics
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Hugh Grant issued a scathing attack on Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party ahead of polls opening in the UK general election.
The Notting Hill star hit out at the Tories ahead of what is expected to be a “devastating” wipeout for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party.
On Tuesday (2 July) the actor re-shared an anti-Tory post by broadcaster Carol Vorderman, who revealed that a website aiming to tactically topple the Conservative Party into third place has amassed four million views.
“Nearly FOUR MILLION VIEWS on our website so far. Just type in your postcode,” she wrote.
“We can make history TOGETHER Aiming for Tories into 3rd place just as the Survation indicates can happen #TacticalVoting.”
In response, Grant, who has long been a critic of the Tories, pointed his fans to the website, adding: “They destroyed our country. Let’s destroy them.”
His remarks came as former Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a last ditch appeal for voters to get behind the Conservatives before the polls opened on Thursday (4 July),
In the last few days, Sunak has attempted to re-build support, claiming that only 130,000 voters were needed to stop a Labour “supermajority”, which Johnson said would be “the height of insanity” in a speech described as a “desperate new low”.
Johnson also took aim at Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in the speech, and urged Conservative voters who were considering voting for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to think again, dubbing the party leader a “Kremlin crawler”.
Grant has been a vocal critic of the government under the Conservatives for years.
When the Conservative party won the general election in 2019, Grant tweeted minutes after the Exit Poll data was released, which showed a landslide majority for Johnson.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“There goes the neighbourhood,” he wrote, issuing a warning of the impact he believed Johnson’s leadership would have on the UK.
In 2022, he called the party “insecure nut jobs” after then-culture secretary Nadine Dorris said the Tories would change BBC funding in 2027.