Tony Blair defends ‘helpful’ Prince Charles after diary reveals tensions

The former prime minister once blamed Prince Charles for ‘screwing’ his government, Alastair Campbell’s diaries claim Tony Blair has launched a staunch defence of the Prince of Wales after the former prime minister was quoted as saying the heir to the throne was guilty of “screwing” his government. In a letter to the Guardian, Blair confirms that he voiced critical remarks of the prince in private after his former communications chief Alastair Campbell chronicled their differences in his diaries. But Blair, who was quoted as describing the prince’s decision to boycott a banquet in honour of the former Chinese president in 1999 as “silly”, said he found their discussions “immensely helpful”. He writes: “A prime minister may sound off from time to time, especially when sensitive discussions with members of the royal family leak into the papers, in the middle of some high-profile issue. “However, I want to make it clear that I always found my discussions and correspondence with Prince Charles immensely helpful. I thought he had a perfect right to raise questions and did so in a way that was both informative and insightful. So I welcomed his contributions, and have no doubt he will continue to raise issues with the new government as he is entitled and indeed it is his job to do, and that they will also find it helpful.” The Guardian published extracts from Campbell’s diaries over the weekend. These revealed that Blair believed the prince publicly interfered in government policy in a manner that occasionally stepped over constitutional boundaries. Campbell wrote that Blair became particularly frustrated when the prince made “deeply unhelpful” interventions during the foot-and-mouth crisis in 2001. Campbell wrote on 16 March 2001: “TB … said he knew exactly what he was doing. He also asked whether Charles had ever considered help when 6,000 jobs were lost at Corus [the steel manufacturer]. He said this was all about screwing us and trying to get up the message that we weren’t generous enough to the farmers.” Tony Blair Prince Charles Alastair Campbell Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 4, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.