Hugh Grant is urging U.K. authorities to reopen a criminal investigation into Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) following recent revelations about phone hacking at The Sun. Grant, who himself settled with NGN in 2024, believes the case is far from over, despite Prince Harry’s landmark settlement with the company, which included admissions of guilt related to phone hacking.
Grant made his comments during an interview on BBC Radio 4, where he expressed concerns that NGN had used financial and legal tactics to avoid accountability. “The job is not done by any means,” Grant said, referencing the ongoing issues with phone hacking and unlawful surveillance. He added that NGN had “gamed” the civil courts to prevent proper scrutiny of its practices.
The actor, who has long been an outspoken critic of the media’s use of unethical tactics, accused NGN of spending significant resources to suppress legal challenges. “They’ve spent £1 billion to make sure these things are never looked at in court… and you don’t get proper judicial findings,” Grant said. “I think what they’re terrified of is that those findings would trigger a new criminal inquiry.”
Grant, whose own legal battles against The Sun included accusations of phone tapping and burglary, settled his case in 2024. He claimed that the newspaper had used private investigators to monitor his personal life, but ultimately decided to settle because pursuing the case could have left him with a hefty bill, even if he won. NGN denied the allegations and maintained that the settlement was reached “without admission of liability.”
Despite the settlement, Grant remains adamant that a criminal investigation is necessary. He pointed out that many of the key figures at The Sun during the period of the phone hacking scandal are still in influential positions within the company. “A lot of the foot soldiers for those newspapers have now come over to our side… to say this is awful,” Grant said. “We’ve been punished, we’ve been to prison, we’ve paid fines, we’ve lost our jobs. But the people who commanded all this, they’re still there.”
Grant’s call for a renewed investigation into NGN echoes broader concerns from other public figures. Former Labour MP Tom Watson, who also reached a settlement with NGN, announced that his legal team would be submitting a dossier to the U.K. Metropolitan Police. However, a spokesperson for the force told the BBC that there are no active investigations related to the matter at present. “We await any correspondence from the parties involved, which we will respond to in due course,” the spokesperson said.
Earlier this week, Prince Harry and NGN reached a settlement worth more than $10 million. The deal included an apology from the company, which admitted, for the first time, to criminal activity at The Sun. However, NGN distanced itself from the wrongdoing, claiming that the phone tapping and surveillance were carried out by “private investigators, not journalists” working at the newspaper.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a statement to Variety, Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, addressed the ongoing controversy, noting that much of the material in Prince Harry’s civil litigation came from earlier investigations into phone hacking and illegal surveillance at Murdoch’s newspapers. “There were many prosecutions, those investigations were closed. If they send us a bunch of material, we’ll reflect on that and make our judgments,” Rowley said.
Grant’s remarks on Radio 4 have sparked a fresh round of public debate, including a war of words with media personality Piers Morgan. Morgan, who was himself involved in the phone hacking scandal during his tenure as editor of The Mirror, took to social media to accuse Grant of hypocrisy. On X, Morgan wrote that Grant had “taken many millions of pounds from Rupert Murdoch to make movies for him.”
Grant quickly responded, refuting Morgan’s accusation. “I last worked for a Murdoch-owned company in 1994, long before I knew anything about his papers’ methods,” Grant wrote. He also pointed out that since then, he had “turned down every single job offer emanating from a Murdoch-owned company.”
Morgan, undeterred, responded by pointing out that Florence Foster Jenkins, a film in which Grant starred, had been distributed in the U.K. by 20th Century Fox, which was owned by Murdoch at the time. Morgan also posted an infamous mugshot of Grant from his 1995 arrest in Los Angeles, further fueling the online back-and-forth.
The renewed calls for a criminal investigation into Murdoch’s newspapers highlight ongoing concerns about media ethics and accountability. While Grant, Prince Harry, and others have reached settlements in their legal battles, the question of whether justice has truly been served remains a contentious issue. As the public debate continues, many are left wondering whether the authorities will take further action in what has become one of the most high-profile media scandals in recent history.