LPAC- August 13, 2013
Britain’s Prince Charles has been caught meddling in national politics again, and his continued interference could put the monarchy at risk, the Daily Mail warned in an editorial on Monday.
Prince Charles’ Royal Incontinence.
Charles is ignoring “all alarm bells” set off by an on-going eight-year court case about 27 letters he wrote to government ministers during 2004-05, and plowing ahead with his meddling, the Mail wrote: “The fierce row over Prince Charles’ blatant attempts to influence Government policy by bombarding ministers with black spider memos [a reference to Charles’ weird handwriting] should have served as a warning to him that future monarchs should not become embroiled in day-to-day politics.”
The Mail revealed that he has had 36 private meetings with Cabinet members, including seven with the Prime Minister, and a further 17 with junior ministers since David Cameron formed his government in May 2010. After centuries of political battles between Parliament and the monarchy — dating back to the Magna Charta – the British monarchy is supposed to maintain a position of political neutrality.
The Guardian is now appealing a high court ruling this month, which rejected the newspaper’s legal attempt to have the earlier 27 letters made public. The court ruled that the public has no right to read documents that would reveal how Charles has sought to alter government policies, but Lord Judge, lord chief justice of England and Wales, and two other judges have given the Guardian permission to appeal against the decision, that newspaper reported. The appeal will be heard before the end of this year. There was apparently good reason for the first court to turn the Guardian down: Attorney General Dominic Grieve has said that if the letters were published, there was a risk that the heir to the throne would be “viewed by others as disagreeing with government policy.”
Charles” lobbying is focused on his pet obsessions: green energy, alternative medicine, agriculture and architecture. His office defended Charles’ actions, claiming he has a right and a duty to communicate privately with the government “on any matter he chooses.” Yesterday, Labour Party backbencher Paul Flynn accused Charles of an “incontinence of lobbying.”
