LONDON — Londoners responding to a knock on their front doors in recent days may have been surprised to see a familiar face grinning back at them: Hugh Grant, one of the country’s most recognizable actors, who made his mark as the floppy-haired, bumbling leading man in romantic comedies.
In a climate where anger and exhaustion over the still-unresolved issue of Brexit have left Britain divided like never before, the reception for Grant’s efforts has been mixed. "I, for the first time in my life, am getting active politically, because I think that the country is on the edge of a true abyss,” leaving the European Union without a trade agreement, he said. He described what he said would be “the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit” under Johnson.
This week, he was in Chingford, northeast of London, campaigning with Faiza Shaheen, a Labour candidate, at a subway station, where he handed out leaflets and spoke with voters.