Despite tensions between the two men over the government’s plans to send migrants to the east African nation, a smiling Prince Charles shook hands with Boris Johnson today in Rwanda.
The heir to the throne and the prime minister will have a private meeting this afternoon over a cup of tea while they are both in Kigali for a Commonwealth summit.
Carrie Johnson and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are both on the Rwanda tour with their husbands and welcomed each other warmly at the Kigali Convention Centre this morning.
The PM and the future king shook hands after Mr. Johnson pulled back earlier comments that, should Charles voice criticism of his Rwanda asylum policy during their meeting, he would advise the Prince of Wales to be “open-minded.”
The Queen’s son reportedly described the strategy as “appalling” in remarks made in private, and Boris promised to inform the queen of the plan’s “obvious merits.”
But taking a step backwards today, the Prime Minister told broadcasters in Rwanda: ‘I wouldn’t comment on anything that I say to the Queen or the Queen says to me, nor would I say what the heir to the throne might say to me or what I may say to him.
‘Prime ministers never talk about that. What I will say is as people come to Rwanda, like you have today, there are a lot of prejudices about Rwanda need to be blown away.
‘So, actually, the achievements of the government of Rwanda over the last couple of decades have been remarkable.’
The Prince of Wales was told yesterday to ‘keep his oar out’ of politics as the Tories intensified their attacks on the heir to the throne over his opposition to its Rwanda migrant programme.
Ahead of a meeting between Charles and Boris Johnson in Kigali, backbencher Andrea Jenkyns suggested the future king emulate his mother the Queen and keep a dignified silence.
But Boris Johnson stepped back from comments that he would tell Charles to be ‘open-minded’ about his Rwanda asylum policy if Charles raises criticism in their meeting later.
The Prime Minister’s earlier suggestion he would tell the heir to the throne that there are ‘obvious merits’ to the controversial scheme appeared to frustrate royal aides.
Charles, who has reportedly called the policy ‘appalling’, is due to host Mr Johnson for talks over tea at the Commonwealth summit in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali on Friday morning.
Hours before the potentially tense meeting, Mr Johnson told broadcasters: ‘I wouldn’t comment on anything that I say to the Queen or the Queen says to me, nor would I say what the heir to the throne might say to me or what I may say to him.
‘Prime ministers never talk about that. But what I will say is as people come to Rwanda like you have today, there are a lot of prejudices about Rwanda need to be blown away.
‘So actually the achievements of the government of Rwanda over the last couple of decades have been remarkable.’
In a series of earlier interviews, Mr Johnson struck out at ‘condescending’ opponents of his stalled scheme to forcibly remove migrants who arrive through unauthorised means to Rwanda.
And he clearly said he would defend the policy to the heir to the throne if he raised it in their meeting, the first time they will have spoken since the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
‘People need to keep an open mind about the policy, the critics need to keep an open mind about the policy. A lot of people can see its obvious merits. So yeah, of course, if I am seeing the prince tomorrow, I am going to be making that point,’ Mr Johnson said.
Mr Johnson will be meeting Charles on the fringes of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm).
The first flight removing people to Rwanda was due to take off last week, but was grounded by successful legal challenges ahead of a full hearing on the scheme’s legality in UK courts.
The policy is one element of a £120 million economic deal with Kigali, but has been widely criticised in part because of concerns about Rwanda’s human rights record.
The Prime Minister said he was ready to defend his £120million policy after Charles was reported to have privately criticised it as ‘appalling’.
Clarence House is understood to be unhappy that public debate over Charles’s remarks about Britain’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda is overshadowing his well-received trip to the East African nation.
Speaking to LBC radio from a by-election in Wakefield today Ms Jenkyns said: ‘He certainly needs to learn a lot from our fantastic Queen and keep his oar out, most definitely.’
The prince and Mr Johnson are in Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). Mr Johnson suggested yesterday he would make a point about the migration policy’s ‘obvious merits’ when he met Charles over a cup of tea this morning.
He said: ‘I am delighted that Prince Charles and everybody is here today to see a country that has undergone a complete, or a very substantial transformation.’
Mr Johnson told ITV: ‘People need to keep an open mind about the (Rwanda) policy, the critics need to keep an open mind about the policy. A lot of people can see its obvious merits. So yeah, of course, if I am seeing the prince tomorrow, I am going to be making that point.’
It was revealed earlier this month that Charles had been overheard describing the Rwanda scheme as ‘appalling’. Last week Mr Johnson dismissed criticism of the policy from ‘slightly unexpected quarters’ in an apparent dig at the prince and Church of England bishops, who attacked it as ‘immoral’.
The three topics on the agenda for the PM’s meeting with Charles are sustainability, youth, and the history and values of the Commonwealth and Charles’s passion for it. Royal sources said it was ‘unlikely’ the two men would discuss the Rwanda scheme.
Downing Street later repeated the same line in what appeared to be a co-ordinated attempt to play down the prospects of a showdown between the PM and the prince, but a spokesman did not rule out the possibility of Mr Johnson raising it.
Defending the policy during a school visit in Kigali, Mr Johnson said: ‘This is a plan that I think is absolutely necessary and right to fix the problem of illegal cross-Channel trafficking of people whose lives are being put at risk by the gangs.
‘You have to break the business model of the gangs – it is totally the right thing to do.
‘What people need to understand, what the critics of the policy need to understand – and I have seen loads and loads of criticism – is that Rwanda has undergone an absolute transformation in the last couple of decades.’
He said the UK and Rwanda had done an ‘immense amount of due diligence on the way things work, both in the UK and in Rwanda, so that everything we do is in conformity with human rights’.
The trip to Rwanda is seen as hugely significant for Charles. He and Camilla are the first British royals to visit the country, and it is the first CHOGM he has attended since he was chosen to take over as head of the Commonwealth after the Queen.
The prince’s significant day of visits focused on the 1994 Rwandan genocide was overshadowed by comments made by Mr. Johnson on Wednesday, in which he expressed the hope that his visit to Rwanda would help others “shed some of their condescending attitudes” toward the nation. This caused “clear unhappiness” in the royal camp.
Sir Edward Young, the Queen’s private secretary, who serves as the monarch’s primary point of contact with No. 10, is accompanying Charles.
He is there because the Queen is still the Commonwealth’s head of state. Sir Edward is believed to have participated in negotiations between Charles and the PM to find a solution behind the scenes.
Prior to a full hearing on the scheme’s constitutionality in UK courts, successful objections to the European Court of Human Rights grounded the first flight transporting asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda that was scheduled to take off last week.
One aspect of a £120 million economic agreement with Kigali, the strategy has drawn heavy criticism, in part due to worries over Rwanda’s human rights record.
An official from the Rwandan government said last night that Britain had paid the money in full and that some of it had already been spent, making it unlikely that any of it would be recouped if the policy failed.
Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, ‘cares passionately’ about the UK’s policies, according to Mr. Johnson, who saw him yesterday. Mr. Kagame was a refugee in neighboring Uganda. Mr. Kagame has received praise for his part in putting an end to the ethnic Hutu extremist massacre of 800,000 people in 1994.
However, his government has since been charged with political repression, murders, and imprisoning critics.