‘I’ve thought about it’

Hugh Grant says the thought of taking the political plunge has crossed his mind but the chances of him running for office are slim. The actor starred in critically-acclaimed series A Very English Scandal in which he played Liberal Party MP Jeremy Thorpe, who was involved in a high-profile trial in the 1970s for conspiring to murder his former lover Norman Scott (played by Ben Whishaw). “I have thought about it a bit to be honest,” Grant said about joining politics on The Big Ticket and iHeart’s movie podcast. However, the actor said his cupboards are “full of skeletons”. “There’s so much muckraking that could go on. I could take it. I’ve been taking it now for a long time, but I’m not sure I want my family to suffer that. It’s not really about me. It’s about my family,” he added.

Grant, 58, also has a campaign slogan prepared. “My main slogan would be, I Don’t Want to Be Reelected. It seems to me that the desire to be reelected or be a career politician poisons everything,” he said. —PTI