Hugh Grant and Piers Morgan have got into a bit of spat online as the polls open for the general election.
It kicked off on Wednesday evening when Good Morning Britain host responded to a Sky News clip showing Alan Partridge actor Steve Coogan talking about the election, posting: "Who gives a flying f*** what Coogan and Grant have to say about this election? Honestly, the stupefying pomposity of these clowns trying to thwart democracy is beyond parody."
But it wasn't long before Grant, 59, got wind of the post and replied: "You've changed. You used to care so much about what actors said that the paper you edited hacked Nigel Havers phone for years while his wife was dying of cancer."
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Morgan, 54, was quick to clear his name, replying: "No journalist who worked for me at the Daily Mirror has ever been charged with or convicted of phone-hacking. YOU however have a criminal record for lewd conduct with a hooker in Hollywood. So, I suggest you put the halo away, 'Saint' Hugh."
However, Grant replied: "Your paper caved and paid off millions to hundreds of victims of phone hacking. And issued grovelling apology. Those were the civil cases. As for criminal charges... I refer to my old friends Mr Tick and Mrs Tock. Happy Xmas."
Grant included a link to a 2018 article from the Guardian entitled 'Mirror Group admits bosses 'turned blind eye' to phone hacking'.
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Morgan then simply replied by tweeting out the mugshot taken when Grant was arrested in 1995 for 'lewd conduct' in a public place with a sex worker. The actor was ordered to pay an $1,000 (£760) fine and attend an AIDS education programme.
But I doubt Grant was too put out, he actually tweeted out the same photo himself earlier this month in response to trolls having a go online.
Alongside a retweet of Morgan's post containing the mugshot, Grant posted a second link to a Guardian article - this time with the headline 'Nigel Havers accepts phone-hacking damages from Mirror Group'.
Grant was one of a number of celebrities who spoke at the Leveson Inquiry, which looked into the hacking of phones by British tabloids, which eventually led to the closure of newspaper the News of the World.
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Morgan, who was the editor at the Daily Mirror for nine years, has always denied accusations of phone hacking and has never been charged with any offences related to it.
Grant is now a campaigner and support of Hacked Off, a group launched in 2011, in the wake of the phone-hacking revelations, which campaigns for a 'free and accountable press'.
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