Prince Charles 'summons' senior ministers for private talks on his pet subjects
After revelations that Tony Blair was enraged by prince's lobbying, coalition now has to endure it
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Prince Charles was propelled into a political row last night after it emerged that he had summoned some of the most senior members of the Government for private talks over a period of 10 months.
The Prince of Wales has met at least nine ministers, including the Chancellor, George Osborne, and the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, for secret talks – often at his London residence, Clarence House.
The heir to the throne appears to have targeted ministers with responsibility for some of his "pet subjects", including architecture and the environment, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.
The revelations, detailed in a series of responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, revived the dispute over the Prince's penchant for "meddling" in government policy. Former Labour ministers revealed a number of years ago that they frequently received hand-written letters from the Prince, covering significant issues of the day.
But it emerged yesterday that the Prince's interventions had infuriated the New Labour hierarchy. Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former press secretary, revealed that the then Prime Minister was enraged by the Prince's attempts to "challenge" and "influence" key government policies on issues from genetically modified food to reform of the Lords and the fox-hunting ban.
At one stage Mr Blair accused Prince Charles of trying to "screw" the Labour government, and complained to the Queen.
But, far from scaling back his political activities, the Prince has been as active as ever in lobbying politicians. He appears to have taken an even more direct interest in the affairs of the coalition, preferring to meet ministers in person rather than communicating by letter.
In most cases, the ministers and the Prince refused to reveal what they had discussed, hiding behind controversial changes to the Freedom of Information Act that give the Royals special protection from public scrutiny.
Some Cabinet ministers, including the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, and the Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, would not even say if they had met Charles to discuss politics.
However, it was revealed that the Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, was called to his office to discuss the issue of "tree health" on two occasions, accompanied by two highly paid senior officials each time.
On another occasion the Prince had a one-to-one meeting on global warming, with the Climate Change minister, Greg Barker.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments