Charles lobbied PM in secret hunt letter
Prince wrote to Blair with claim class hatred was behind campaign against an ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘romantic’ sport
PRINCE CHARLES urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to scrap the planned hunting ban in a private letter revealed for the first time today by The Mail on Sunday.
The Prince lauded hunting as ‘ romantic’ and ‘ environmentally friendly’ and effectively branded opponents class warriors in the letter, sent in 2002, three years before the ban came into effect.
The disclosure of the Prince’s attempts to influence Government policy will strengthen the hand of critics who have accused him of meddling in matters of state. But others argue the Prince has a right to privacy when raising concerns.
In his letter – obtained by this newspaper under Freedom of Information laws – the Prince told
‘He has every right to advise Ministers’
Mr Blair he was ‘bewildered’ that the Government was responding to calls for a ban from protesters who he said were motivated by ‘antipathy to the type of person who they think goes out hunting’.
The Prince added that hunting was ‘something which is genuinely environmentally friendly, which uses no modern technology, which does not pollute the countryside, which i s completely natural – in that it relies entirely on man’s ancient and, indeed, romantic relationship with dogs and horses’.
The Prince said hunting was the best way to ensure the welfare of the fox. He wrote: ‘ There are a number of former hunt saboteurs and passionate opponents of hunting who have… come to the conclusion that the welfare of the actual fox is best ensured by a continuation of hunting... Their fellow opponents are chiefly driven by agendas other than the welfare of the fox – namely their antipathy to the type of person who they think goes out hunting.’
It has taken The Mail on Sunday more than two-and-a-half years to obtain the letter. At the time of the correspondence, the Labour Government was trying to steer the complex ban on hunting through Parliament after Mr Blair was voted into power in 1997 on a manifesto commitment to a free vote on a hunting ban. Eventually, in 2004, the Commons Speaker invoked the Parliament Act to ensure the bill became law, despite the opposition of peers. The law came into effect in 2005.
Prince Charles is a keen supporter of fox hunting after taking up the sport aged 26. He has been criticised in the past for what some have called his attempts to ‘meddle’ in decision making.
Last month, The MoS revealed the Prince had written to the Environment Agency to lobby against cuts to flood defences on land owned by the Duke of Norfolk. Last night an eminent constitutional expert, who asked not to be named, said of the hunting letter: ‘It was very unwise for him to write it.’ But Oxford politics professor Vernon Bogdanor said: ‘The rights of the Monarch are to be consulted, to encourage and to warn. He is not the Monarch so has no right to be consulted but he has the right to encourage and to warn.’
And Royal biographer Hugo Vickers said: ‘ The Prince should be allowed to raise issues of concern to him in confidence. We don’t have a right to know everything and Ministers are not obliged to act on the correspondence.’
A spokesman for Clarence House said: ‘The Prince is well known for his understanding and concern for rural communities and their livelihoods. This letter shows his efforts to ensure their voice was being heard in what was an important debate at the time. The Prince is fully aware that while he has every right to advise, it is Ministers who decide. In this case, he was simply encouraging the Government to take the views of the countryside on board before reaching a decision.’