Actor Hugh Grant has upped the ante in his on-going war of words with the Daily Mail by accusing the paper of setting out to “trash” the reputation of anybody who disagrees with it.

Grant made the allegation after the Mail’s editor, Paul Dacre, attacked the Four Weddings star for alleging that his journalists had been engaged in phone hacking.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Grant said that “no-one is allowed the freedom of speech to question the Daily Mail.”

Adding: "If you do, you will be trashed, and that's what's happened again and again and again to me and to anyone else who has dared to question the Daily Mail."

Dacre has publically dismissed Grant’s claims as “mendacious smears”, stressing that he was “confident” that none of his staff had engaged in any illicit news gathering techniques.

Grant is calling for the establishment of an industry watchdog “with teeth” to better police the actions of the press.