Private letters sent by Prince Charles to government ministers must remain secret to prevent “serious damage” to his future role as king, it was ruled today.
Attorney-General Dominic Grieve reversed a ruling from three judges that would have allowed 27 letters sent by Charles to Tony Blair’s Labour government to be published.
Mr Grieve used his ministerial veto to block a request from Guardian journalist Rob Evans to see the letters, dubbed “black spider memos” because of the prince’s handwriting.
He said there was more public interest in ensuring the heir to the throne retained his position of “political neutrality” than in the seeing the letters.
Mr Grieve said it was of “considerable practical benefit” for Charles to write to and speak with ministers as “such correspondence and dialogue will assist him in fulfilling his duties... as king”.
He added: “Without such confidentiality, both the prince and ministers will feel seriously inhibited from exchanging views candidly. Moreover, it is highly important that he is not considered by the public to favour one political party or another... any such perception would be seriously damaging to his role as future monarch.”
The Guardian applied seven years ago to see the letters, written to seven government departments between September 2004 and April 2005.
Last month three judges on a freedom of information tribunal ruled that 27 letters should be made public.
Evans branded today’s decision “appalling”, adding: “He [Charles] lobbies. He is unelected. We want to know how he influences government policy.” The law was changed in 2010 to exempt the heir to the throne from freedom of information requests.
