Kelsey Grammer: "George Bush had a past, too"

In his new TV drama, 'Boss', Kelsey Grammer plays the fictional mayor of Chicago, Tom Kane, as a cross between Richard III and Richard Nixon. The new show, as Grammer explains to 'The Guardian', is conscious decision to throw off  pompous yet essentially lovable psychiatrist  Dr Frasier Crane - who he played for two decades, from 1984 to 2004, in 'Cheers' and 'Frasier' - the the longest-running job in sitcom history.

These days Grammer, now 58, is as famous in Hollywood these days for his politics as for his earlier misdemeanours. What makes him a Republican in an industry dominated by Democrats?

"The idea of self-reliance is important to me, and that is echoed, in my way of thinking, by a conservative approach to politics," he says.

"But that is not what most people believe right now. The majority of people want bigger government. They want government to take care of them." Grammer finds it "pretty hard to swallow" that he should have to pay "more than half my income" in tax.

Does he really think, as he claimed recently in an interview with Jay Leno, that he was denied an Emmy award for 'Boss' because of his politics? "Is it possible that they might think, 'Oh gosh, I don't like what he stands for'? Sure it is."

Grammer says he doesn't rule out running for political office, despite his past convictions for drink-driving and cocaine possession, a multimillion-dollar divorce and child custody battle with his third wife, Camille Grammer, the former Playboy model and current star of 'The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills', whose name he refuses even to speak.

"That still may happen," he says. "It would be a big nut to swallow." What would voters make of the alcohol, the drugs, the multiple wives or, for that matter, the sex tape (yes, there was one, in 1998)?

"Oh, all that would come up," Grammer says. "But I don't think it needs to stick. George Bush went through something similar and he said, 'Look, there's some stuff in my past.' And then you move on."

'Boss' is on More4, Thursdays at 11pm.