PM's ally attacks 'feudal' Charles

A senior Labour peer and close ally of Tony Blair yesterday accused the Prince of Wales of wanting a return to a feudal society.

Lord Haskins, appointed by the Prime Minister as rural recovery co-ordinator after the foot and mouth crisis, said Prince Charles was a prime example of farmers who "look backwards and not forwards", "believing that we should live in a feudal society and all pay more for our food".

His attack, at Labour's first rural conference, is certain to embarrass the Prime Minister.

The Northern Foods chairman and millionaire Labour party donor suggested Prince Charles, who has an organic garden at his Highgrove home and sells his Duchy Originals biscuits nationwide, was wrong to advocate more expensive food, which would mean "there's going to be a lot of very hungry people".

Downing Street said Lord Haskins was "entitled to his view".

* Lord Rooker, the planning minister, told the conference in Newport, Shropshire, that the Government was considering changing the right of council tenants to buy their own homes.