Hugh Grant has accused the Conservative Party of using Russian money to fund Boris Johnson’s campaign video which parodies a scene from Love Actually.
The 59-year-old actor has been campaigning for different parties in seven seats with the aim of depriving the Tories of a majority at this Thursday’s General Election.
And he has now responded to the new campaign video from the Conservatives in which the Prime Minister emulates a scene from the 2003 film Love Actually.
Hugh Grant told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the advert had ‘very high production values’
It sees Mr Johnson silently holding up Brexit-themed messages to a woman at her front door after pretending to be carol singers.
Grant, who starred in the hit Christmas film, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I thought it was quite well done, very high production values.
‘But clearly the Conservative Party have an awful lot of money. Maybe that’s where the rubles went.
‘But I did notice that one of the cards from the original film that he didn’t hold up was the one where Andrew Lincoln held up a card saying, ‘Because at Christmas you tell the truth.’
‘And I just wonder if the spin doctors in the Tory Party thought that was a card that wouldn’t look too great in Boris Johnson’s hands.’
The advert begins with a woman relaxing on the sofa with her partner when the doorbell goes
Prime Minister Boris Johnson plays a parody of the role in Love Actually where a hopeless romantic uses a slideshow of placards to tell a woman he loves her
The advert opens with Mr Johnson telling the woman to pretend it’s carol singers at the door
The PM recreated the scene and used a slideshow of billboards to hammer out his messages
The PM insists Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour could still gain power and that every vote counts
One by one Mr Johnson turned over the cards, addressed to a woman he was trying to woo
Mr Grant has been canvassing in seven constituencies for different parties, including Liberal Democrat Labour defectors Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger.
He has also been campaigning for Faiza Shaheen, who is Labour’s hopeful in Iain Duncan Smith’s seat, and the independent Claire Wright in East Devon.
The clip from Mr Johnson parodies the moment Andrew Lincoln’s character Mark confesses his love to Juliet – played by Keira Knightley – on her doorstep.
As her husband stays inside the house, Lincoln tells her to say that it’s carol singers as he proceeds to show her a series of placards with hand-written messages.
In Mr Johnson’s quirky three-minute clip, he tries the same tactic with a woman homeowner, telling her on his cards: ‘Your vote has never been more important.
In the 2003 hit romantic comedy Love Actually, Andrew Lincoln tells Keira Knightly he loves her over the threshold of her home while her boyfriend is inside
Keira Knightly holds Andrew Lincoln’s face outside her home in the scene from the 2003 film
Hugh Grant speaks to voters in Finchley on December 1 with Liberal Democrat Luciana Berger
Hugh Grant starred in 2003 film Love Actually, in which he played the Prime Minister, David
‘The other guy could win. So you have to make a choice, between a working majority or another gridlocked hung Parliament, arguing about Brexit, until I look like this.’
He then shows a picture of a shabby looking English sheepdog. He ends by winking and giving a thumbs-up before saying: ‘Enough, enough, let’s get this done.’ The clip ends with ‘vote Conservative, actually’.
The video comes after Labour’s Dr Rosena Allin-Khan made a similar spin off.
A Conservative Party spokesman has been contacted for comment by MailOnline.
The video was shared by Mr Johnson on Twitter yesterday evening, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn posted his own pop culture-inspired campaign message.
In a video entitled ‘Mean Tweets with Jeremy Corbyn’, the Labour leader replicated a format popularised by US late-night chat host Jimmy Kimmel
Mr Corbyn’s much-derided ‘magic money tree’ was the focus of one of the tweets he read out
Labour’s video ended by declaring their leader the ‘next prime minister’… in response to someone who didn’t know who he was
In a video entitled Mean Tweets With Jeremy Corbyn, he reads out critical tweets about him in a format popularised by US late-night chat host Jimmy Kimmel.
He sits by a fireplace and reads out negative online messages about him and the Labour campaign.
After addressing Labour manifesto promises on broadband and tuition fees, he reads out a tweet about being found sexy.
‘Oh this is bad,’ Mr Corbyn says, later telling viewers there was a magic money tree ‘in the Cayman Islands’.
Mr Corbyn ends the video with a high-five to someone off-camera, saying he would be the next prime minister.