The actor Hugh Grant had accused the "Mail" of using phone hacking to report on his private life, he told the Inquiry "voice messages on my mobile" could be the only source for a February 2007 "Mail on Sunday" article, although Dacre himself made "extensive enquiries" to establish his newspapers had not used phone hacking. John Lloyd in an April 2012 article for the "Financial Times" wrote that there was "no evidence that the "Daily Mail" journalists asked for phones to be hacked". Dacre accused Grant of indulging in a "mendacious smear" in a November 2011 statement for his comment about voice messages. Dacre refused to retract his response to Hugh Grant at both appearances at the hearings, unless Grant withdrew his statement. He was quickly recalled on this specific issue, and again on 9 February 2012, he rejected calls that he should retract his allegation that actor Hugh Grant lied.