After the future King of England reportedly slammed the Government’s plans to transfer migrants to Rwanda as ‘appalling,’ Clarence House has stressed that Prince Charles remains ‘politically neutral.’
The Prince of Wales had expressed his objection to the strategy in private several times, according to a source, and he was ‘more than dissatisfied’ by it.
The Times published the remarks after a High Court judgment allowed the first flight to the East African country to take off on Tuesday.
In the past, Charles has been dubbed the’messiah prince’ for offering his opinion and advice to ministers and even prime ministers, which some have claimed amounted to undue influence.
Following a decade-long court struggle, a series of letters he sent to former Prime Minister Tony Blair and other government authorities, dubbed the Black Spider memoranda, were ultimately published in 2015.
The future president had made a number of ideas, ranging from urging Blair to exterminate Britain’s badgers to endorsing ‘traditional therapies’ and criticizing modern educational techniques.
‘We would not comment on claimed anonymous private conversations with the Prince of Wales, except to reiterate that he remains politically neutral,’ a Clarence House spokeswoman said today, referring to his recent statements on Rwanda.
According to the royal family’s official website, as head of state, Charles’ mother, the Queen, is required to stay totally neutral in political matters and does neither vote nor run for office.
Due to their mainly ceremonial duties, royals have always avoided getting engaged in political concerns.
However, Charles, the heir to the throne, has a history of being outspoken and attracting criticism for his involvement in public and political problems.
In 2015, he was forced to defend his choice to write a series of letters to government ministers, some of which are dubbed the “black spider” memoranda due to his use of black ink.
Clarence House said at the time that the correspondence reflected “the range of the Prince of Wales’s concerns and interests for this country and the wider world,” including a lack of resources for armed forces fighting in Iraq, the benefits of complementary medicine, and the need for affordable rural homes.
In the same year, it was revealed that Charles had been obtaining copies of classified Cabinet papers on a regular basis for more than 20 years, causing controversy.
It included the Queen and the Prince of Wales, though there was no indication that he had requested entry. Since the 1930s, it was thought that heirs to the monarchy had been included in the group.
In a BBC program to commemorate his 70th birthday in 2018, Charles stated that once he became king, he would stop speaking out on matters, claiming that he was “not so foolish” to continue what others had referred to as “meddling.”
The prince admitted that as monarch, he would not be able to “perform the same things I’ve done as heir,” and that he would have to work within “constitutional boundaries.”
Buckingham Palace appeared to distance itself from comments made by Charles’ son, the Duke of Sussex, in 2020, when Harry urged Americans to “resist hate speech” and vote in presidential elections.
Accusations of political meddling and suggestions that Harry was urging people to vote against Donald Trump sparked a backlash.
Although there is no law prohibiting royalty from voting in the United Kingdom, it is deemed unconstitutional for them to do so.
Harry’s remarks were made in a ‘personal capacity,’ according to Buckingham Palace, despite the fact that he was no longer a working royal.
It comes after a High Court judge last week dismissed an attempt to prevent the first charter flight to Rwanda, which was scheduled to depart on Tuesday.
Mr Justice Swift stated that he had to strike a compromise between individual migrant concerns and the larger public interest.
The Daily Mail has learned that Prince Charles and Boris Johnson are at odds, with both complaining about the other’s tardiness for important meetings.
Tensions between the two men have been reported, echoing accounts of the Queen’s strained relationship with Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister.
In the High Court yesterday, a union representing Border Force staff and two charities claimed that Rwanda was an unsafe country and that Miss Patel was abusing her powers as Home Secretary.
‘It is necessary for the secretary of state to be able to apply immigration control procedures, and preventing that would be prejudicial to the public interest,’ Mr Justice Swift ruled in dismissing their bid for a temporary injunction blocking next week’s first flight.
He acknowledged that there was a “need for monitoring” regarding the impartiality of Rwanda’s asylum system, but that this was not enough to overturn the policy.
The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents hundreds of Border Force employees, as well as the charities Detention Action and Care 4 Calais, filed the judicial challenge.
‘Welcome news from the High Court today,’ Mr Johnson remarked in response to the decision. We cannot enable human traffickers to endanger lives, and our world-leading alliance will aid in disrupting these merciless criminals’ economic model.’
‘I will now continue to deliver on progressing our world-leading migration cooperation,’ Miss Patel said, insisting that the initiative is critical in averting more deaths in the Channel.
‘People will continue to use legal challenges and last-minute claims to delay their removal, but we will not be deterred in our efforts to end the murderous people-smuggling trade and save lives.’
Insiders at the Home Office said that their success was simply the ‘first small foothill of many mountains to conquer.’
Permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal was granted to the coalition that filed the legal challenge yesterday. The hearing is set to take place on Monday. The High Court will consider a separate plea for an injunction on Monday.
Individual court challenges are also expected to thwart the Home Office’s efforts to deport migrants, the majority of whom arrived in the UK since May 1.
More than 90 migrants out of a total of 130 have already filed claims, primarily under the ‘right to private and family life’ and anti-slavery legislation, with more expected between now and Tuesday.
At yesterday’s hearing, it was revealed that 31 persons are scheduled to board the first aircraft, with the Home Office agreeing to remove five migrants from the passenger list.
‘A large number of individuals were anticipating the High Court’s decision. ‘We anticipate them all to file individual claims now,’ according to a government source. ‘There’s still a chance no one will be able to board Tuesday’s flight.’
‘Urgent meetings’ with Miss Patel over the policy were demanded by the PCS, while a spokeswoman for Detention Action said: ‘This is merely the first stage in our legal challenge.’
Charles has already been accused of interfering in government issues, such as when his ‘black spider’ letters to ministers and other officials were made public seven years ago under freedom of information legislation. However, there is no evidence that the prince was attempting to meddle in policy matters on this occasion.
He and the Duchess of Cornwall are set to become the first members of the Royal Family to visit Rwanda later this month, representing the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and attending events commemorating the country’s recovery from the 1994 genocide.
Eric Murangwa, a Rwandan player who escaped the genocide after being sheltered by his teammates and has worked with the Holocaust Memorial Trust, has inspired Charles.
‘We would not comment on alleged anonymous private talks with the Prince of Wales, except to reiterate that he remains politically neutral,’ a representative for Clarence House said. Policy decisions are made by the government.’
The idea that the heir to the throne had a falling out with the Prime Minister was ‘genuinely not recognised,’ according to sources.
‘Relationships are good,’ an adviser added, noting that Mr Johnson had delivered a ‘very warm’ speech celebrating Charles’ environmental efforts.
One Twitter user blasted Ben & Jerry’s of ‘pathetic virtue signaling,’ vowing to switch to Haagen-Dazs, a rival luxury brand. Another person chastised the company for “using their wealth to meddle in our democratically elected government.” Others pointed out that a firm that profits from the sale of unhealthy, sugary treats is hardly in a position to claim moral high ground.
Ben & Jerry’s, which was founded in Vermont in the 1970s, has long advocated for topics such as equality and climate change. Unilever’s board have continued to be permitted to take their own political positions under the conditions of the company’s purchase in 2000.
However, it ran into trouble earlier this year when it accused US President Joe Biden of ‘fanning the flames of war’ by sending extra US soldiers to Europe in reaction to Ukraine’s invasion.
When companies lacked “expertise or credibility,” Unilever CEO Alan Jope said it was “better to remain out of the debate.”
Scott Benton, Conservative MP for Blackpool South, called Ben & Jerry’s new intervention “bizarre and inaccurate,” and said the company should have learned its lesson by now. ‘Wake American companies lecturing voters is the last thing voters need,’ he said.
In March, Unilever was chastised for ignoring pleas to remove brands such as Carte D’Or and Magnum ice creams from Russian stores. It has, however, condemned the ‘insane’ invasion of Ukraine.
DAY OF LEIGH
Law firm Leigh Day, which was accused of being behind a ‘witch-hunt’ of British troops in Iraq, has filed a separate challenge to the Rwanda policy, which will be heard in court on Monday.
Following a disciplinary process in 2017, the firm and three of its attorneys, including senior partner Martyn Day, were cleared of a series of misconduct claims. The Solicitors Regulatory Authority had prosecuted them after the Ministry of Defence submitted a comprehensive dossier of suspected wrongdoing, including charges that they tortured innocent servicemen for years.
In parallel legal actions, Leigh Day partnered with Birmingham solicitor Phil Shiner to defend Iraqi clients. Mr Shiner was disbarred as an attorney for dishonesty in his treatment of claims of war crimes against the Army.
DOUGHTY STREET
Several barristers from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s former chambers, Doughty Street, are part of Asylum Aid’s legal team.
Helena Kennedy QC, a famous human rights barrister, has been an active and vocal Labour peer since her accession to the House of Lords as Baroness Kennedy after the 1997 general election. Amal Clooney, George Clooney’s lawyer wife, practices there as well.
Sir Keir’s leadership campaign received a £100,000 donation from Robert Latham, who holds an associate tenancy at Doughty Street.
SOLICITORS DUNCAN LEWIS
Duncan Lewis, who represents the PCS union, Care 4 Calais, and Detention Action, has a long history of challenging government immigration policies.
The Mail on Sunday reported in 2020 that in just three years, the firm had collected £55 million in legal assistance from the British taxpayer. The newspaper also detailed how firm employees traveled to Calais to assist refugees attempting to enter the United Kingdom.
The firm, which is owned by entrepreneur Amarpal Singh Gupta, dubbed “Britain’s legal aid king,” has developed tight relationships with NGOs that work in refugee camps along the French coast. Staff members are also said to have boasted of socializing with key Labour Party politicians such as deputy leader Angela Rayner and foreign spokesman David Lammy.
ACTION ON DETENTION
Bella Sankey, the director of the campaign group Detention Action, was a previous would-be Labour MP who had Sir Keir’s endorsement. Miss Sankey, like the Labour leader many years before her, worked at Liberty, a civil rights campaign group that has traditionally been a recruiting ground for Labour politicians.
UNION OF PUBLIC AND COMMERCIAL SERVICES
Mark Serwotka, the union’s fiery general secretary, was expelled from the Labour Party in 1992 for belonging to the Trotskyist organisation Socialist Organiser. He returned to Labour in 2016, claiming that his long-time friend Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership provided a “real departure from the past.” He has called for a General Strike to ‘bring the Tories down’ in recent years.
CARE4CALAIS
In 2017, the organization was embroiled in a scandal after it was revealed that its married founder Clare Moseley, a former accountant, had a year-long romance with Mohamed Bajjar, then 27. He pretended to be a Syrian refugee when, in fact, he was a Tunisian market stall seller married to another British woman.
The nonprofit is currently under investigation by the Charity Commission for’serious governance issues.’
ASSISTANCE WITH ASYLUM
Alison Pickup, a Cambridge graduate, oversees a team that provides legal assistance to asylum seekers and refugees. She was previously the legal director of the Public Law Project, and prior to that, she practiced immigration, asylum, and migrants’ rights at Doughty Street Chambers, where she specialized in unlawful detention, community care, asylum support, and access to justice.
Doughty Street Chambers’ website includes her as a junior counsel in “two of the key challenges to the legal aid cuts” among her accomplishments.
The first was a successful challenge to the proposed “residence test” for legal aid, while the second established that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to respect for private and family life – may necessitate legal aid in immigration matters.