By . Simon Walters and Glen Owen . PUBLISHED: . 16:03 EST, 6 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:43 EST, 7 October 2012 . Actor Hugh Grant directed a four-letter outburst at a senior female adviser to Harriet Harman while discussing his campaign for good conduct and ethics in the media. Mr Grant called Ayesha Hazarika a ‘f****** a*******’ as they talked through his demands for sweeping new controls on the press following the phone hacking scandal. Ms Hazarika, chief of staff to the Labour deputy leader, hit back, telling Mr Grant he was ‘f****** rude’. Mr Grant later apologised. Hugh Grant, pictured left giving evidence at the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions last year, has apologised for being rude to Ayesha Hazarika, right, an aide to Harriet Harmen . The incident happened in a crowded bar at the Midland Hotel in Manchester at about midnight last Tuesday when, in his role as head of the Hacked Off campaign into press practices, the actor visited the Labour conference to lobby party leader Ed Miliband. A well-placed Labour source said: ‘Grant and Ayesha were having a discussion about the next stage in press regulation. She was trying to explain something to him and he didn’t like it. He suddenly got angry and called her a f****** a*******. Ayesha hit back and told him he had been “pretty f****** rude”. He  made a fulsome apology which she accepted.’ Afterwards, the two carried on talking and posed for a photograph together. Ms Hazarika told a friend: ‘We did have a spat. He thought I was being patronising and was rude to me.  I gave it back to him. He was massively apologetic afterwards and was charming. He has been in touch with me since.’ According to a friend of Mr Grant, the actor felt Ms Hazarika ‘seemed patronising towards him’ by asking if he knew about a recent report into media regulations by former Press Complaints Commission director Lord Black and fellow Tory peer, PCC chairman Lord Hunt. The friend added: ‘As he [Grant] has been at the centre of the debate over press freedom in such a prominent way, he felt she was condescending as he had of course read in great detail the report by Lord Black and Lord Hunt. 'This was why he spoke in rather more robust language than he should have done. It was a momentary flash of irritation which was meant in a conversationally jokey way. He instantly regretted it and apologised. Hugh Grant, pictured with Labour's Harriet Harmen at the Hacked Off Campaign Rally, in London in May, was offended when asked if he was up to date on a media regulations report . ‘He thinks she [Ms Hazarika] is a great woman and they agree a great deal over press regulation and they talked for an hour after the flare-up. They have both put it behind them and are on good terms.’ Mr Miliband, Ms Harman and other Labour figures were staying at the Midland Hotel during the conference. Several hundred delegates, MPs, union officials, Labour aides and journalists were drinking there until the early hours. Earlier in the evening, Mr Grant had attended a dinner in Manchester hosted by the Hacked Off group. The following day, Ms Hazarika was present in her role as a Labour adviser on media ethics when Mr Grant met Mr Miliband and Ms Harman. The exchange of four-letter words took place in the bar at Manchester's Midland Hotel last week, during the Labour party conference . Mr Grant, famed for his roles in Notting Hill and Love Actually, has recently stepped up his involvement in the controversy over press conduct. He has made donations to the Hacked Off campaign and has been its public face. Last month he became a director of the organisation, which recently opened an office in Westminster. The group is recruiting extra staff to raise its profile as Lord Justice Leveson, who is chairing an inquiry into media ethics, prepares to publish his recommendations. Mr Grant forecast last month that Leveson’s report on the future of the press will start a ‘war’ which will divide Britain. He said he expected Leveson to propose an independent press regulator, triggering a ‘battlefield’ in which popular newspapers and their supporters would oppose the move. Mr Grant said the inquiry had been told of ‘a nightmarish pattern of mistreatment of innocent people, the cynical covering up of wrongdoing .  .  . all of it in pursuit not of news that might serve the public interest, but of corporate profit’. Media companies with ‘daunting’ power would fight the reforms, he said. Former TV star and civil servant Ms Hazarika, 36, is a second generation Indian immigrant brought up  in Scotland. Her success in the sharply contrasting worlds of Whitehall and showbusiness helped her win the Young Achiever title at the 2005 Asian Women of Achievement Awards. She was chief press officer to Labour Trade and Industry Secretary  Patricia Hewitt and worked at the Home Office and Downing Street. Previously, she was a stand-up comedienne and was a semi-finalist on Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny competition in 2003. She also appeared in the BBC Asian Network radio soap Silver Street, playing the character Manisha. When Mr Miliband became Labour leader, he appointed Ms Hazarika as his head of press. Last year, she became Ms Harman’s chief of staff and is now the deputy leader’s senior adviser on press regulation. Mr Grant is to meet David Cameron at the Tory conference in  Birmingham this week.
Hugh Grant called Ayesha Hazarika, an adviser to Harriet Harmen, a 'f**** a***' in crowded hotel bar during Labour party conference .
The Labour party aide hit back saying he was 'f**** rude'
The British star realised his error and used his charm to apologise .
Grant felt she patronised him for asking if he had read a recent report into press regulation .
By . Simon Walters and Glen Owen . PUBLISHED: . 16:03 EST, 6 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:43 EST, 7 October 2012 . Actor Hugh Grant directed a four-letter outburst at a senior female adviser to Harriet Harman while discussing his campaign for good conduct and ethics in the media. Mr Grant called Ayesha Hazarika a ‘f****** a*******’ as they talked through his demands for sweeping new controls on the press following the phone hacking scandal. Ms Hazarika, chief of staff to the Labour deputy leader, hit back, telling Mr Grant he was ‘f****** rude’. Mr Grant later apologised. Hugh Grant, pictured left giving evidence at the Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions last year, has apologised for being rude to Ayesha Hazarika, right, an aide to Harriet Harmen . The incident happened in a crowded bar at the Midland Hotel in Manchester at about midnight last Tuesday when, in his role as head of the Hacked Off campaign into press practices, the actor visited the Labour conference to lobby party leader Ed Miliband. A well-placed Labour source said: ‘Grant and Ayesha were having a discussion about the next stage in press regulation. She was trying to explain something to him and he didn’t like it. He suddenly got angry and called her a f****** a*******. Ayesha hit back and told him he had been “pretty f****** rude”. He  made a fulsome apology which she accepted.’ Afterwards, the two carried on talking and posed for a photograph together. Ms Hazarika told a friend: ‘We did have a spat. He thought I was being patronising and was rude to me.  I gave it back to him. He was massively apologetic afterwards and was charming. He has been in touch with me since.’ According to a friend of Mr Grant, the actor felt Ms Hazarika ‘seemed patronising towards him’ by asking if he knew about a recent report into media regulations by former Press Complaints Commission director Lord Black and fellow Tory peer, PCC chairman Lord Hunt. The friend added: ‘As he [Grant] has been at the centre of the debate over press freedom in such a prominent way, he felt she was condescending as he had of course read in great detail the report by Lord Black and Lord Hunt. 'This was why he spoke in rather more robust language than he should have done. It was a momentary flash of irritation which was meant in a conversationally jokey way. He instantly regretted it and apologised. Hugh Grant, pictured with Labour's Harriet Harmen at the Hacked Off Campaign Rally, in London in May, was offended when asked if he was up to date on a media regulations report . ‘He thinks she [Ms Hazarika] is a great woman and they agree a great deal over press regulation and they talked for an hour after the flare-up. They have both put it behind them and are on good terms.’ Mr Miliband, Ms Harman and other Labour figures were staying at the Midland Hotel during the conference. Several hundred delegates, MPs, union officials, Labour aides and journalists were drinking there until the early hours. Earlier in the evening, Mr Grant had attended a dinner in Manchester hosted by the Hacked Off group. The following day, Ms Hazarika was present in her role as a Labour adviser on media ethics when Mr Grant met Mr Miliband and Ms Harman. The exchange of four-letter words took place in the bar at Manchester's Midland Hotel last week, during the Labour party conference . Mr Grant, famed for his roles in Notting Hill and Love Actually, has recently stepped up his involvement in the controversy over press conduct. He has made donations to the Hacked Off campaign and has been its public face. Last month he became a director of the organisation, which recently opened an office in Westminster. The group is recruiting extra staff to raise its profile as Lord Justice Leveson, who is chairing an inquiry into media ethics, prepares to publish his recommendations. Mr Grant forecast last month that Leveson’s report on the future of the press will start a ‘war’ which will divide Britain. He said he expected Leveson to propose an independent press regulator, triggering a ‘battlefield’ in which popular newspapers and their supporters would oppose the move. Mr Grant said the inquiry had been told of ‘a nightmarish pattern of mistreatment of innocent people, the cynical covering up of wrongdoing .  .  . all of it in pursuit not of news that might serve the public interest, but of corporate profit’. Media companies with ‘daunting’ power would fight the reforms, he said. Former TV star and civil servant Ms Hazarika, 36, is a second generation Indian immigrant brought up  in Scotland. Her success in the sharply contrasting worlds of Whitehall and showbusiness helped her win the Young Achiever title at the 2005 Asian Women of Achievement Awards. She was chief press officer to Labour Trade and Industry Secretary  Patricia Hewitt and worked at the Home Office and Downing Street. Previously, she was a stand-up comedienne and was a semi-finalist on Channel 4’s So You Think You’re Funny competition in 2003. She also appeared in the BBC Asian Network radio soap Silver Street, playing the character Manisha. When Mr Miliband became Labour leader, he appointed Ms Hazarika as his head of press. Last year, she became Ms Harman’s chief of staff and is now the deputy leader’s senior adviser on press regulation. Mr Grant is to meet David Cameron at the Tory conference in  Birmingham this week.
Grant called Ayesha Hazarika a ‘f****** a*******’ Grant he was ‘f****** rude’. Mr Grant later rude to Ayesha Hazarika, right, an aide to Harriet Harmen . The incident happened in a a*******. Ayesha hit back and told him he had ‘seemed patronising towards him’ by asking if he knew about a recent report into media regulations press regulation and they talked for an hour last week, during the Labour party conference .