Prince Charles says row will not stop letters to ministers

Downing Street furious over claims that the Government is behind leaking of attacks on 'compensation culture'

The Prince of Wales was at the centre of a political and constitutional row yesterday over the revelation that he had been "bombarding" ministers with letters attacking government policy.

One minister said that the Prince had become so involved in politics that he wrote a letter a week to the Government.

Chief among the Prince's concerns is the growth of the "compensation culture" and some of Labour's high-profile legislation, including the Human Rights Act. In a series of letters to the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, Prince Charles also takes issue with the "degree to which our lives are becoming ruled by a truly absurd degree of politically correct interference".

It is also claimed that the Prince, a friend of the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, wrote to the Foreign Office complaining about China's occupation of Tibet.

The Prince has already come under fire over claims he had written to Tony Blair to relay countryside campaigners' views that they were being treated worse than ethnic minorities or gays. MPs lined up to criticise him for overstepping his constitutional role by attempting to influence the policies of the elected government.

The former sports minister Tony Banks said: "He's getting into very, very dangerous waters now because he seems to be getting himself embroiled in what are party political issues."

A serving minister added: "This was a dam waiting to burst. Very few people realised the extent of Charles' role in affairs of state. He writes about one letter a week to the Government. I have a trunkload of letters from him. Many of them are about small local cases."

It appears the letters were leaked to the media by Whitehall officials on ministerial orders in an effort to stem the torrent of correspondence from St James's Palace.

But Downing Street distanced itself from this theory. Mr Blair's spokesman said: "The Prime Minister has an excellent relationship with the Prince of Wales and welcomes the fact he keeps in touch with him and other ministers." He is understood to be furious that the Government is being blamed for leaking the letters.

Yesterday, a St James's Palace spokeswoman said: "The Prince takes an active interest in British life and is highlighting problems and representing views which are in danger of not being heard."

Prince Charles has made no secret of his many strong views on such rarefied topics as organic farming and ugly architecture. But he has also been privately writing to ministers to change government policy on mainstream political issues including the "compensation culture", red tape and health and safety legislation.

In a letter to the Lord Chancellor, one of the more popular recipients, the Prince says: "I and countless others dread the very real and growing prospect of an American-style personal injury 'culture' becoming ever more prevalent in this country. Such a culture can only lead ultimately, to ... an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion, let alone the real fear of taking decisions that might lead to legal action."

To illustrate how lives are being changed by this growth in compensation culture he draws Lord Irvine's attention to the case of horse chestnut trees being felled in Norwich last year because of fears that falling conkers could injure passers-by.

But the Prince reserves some of his most vehement criticism for the Human Rights Act 1998, which Labour implemented two years ago with the boast that it was "bringing rights home" to the people of Britain. The Prince of Wales tells the Lord Chancellor that human rights legislation is "only about the rights of individuals [I am unable to find a list of social responsibilities attached to it] and this betrays a fundamental distortion in social and legal thinking."

In another letter to Lord Irvine he is particularly forceful on the law prohibiting volunteer workers in care homes from serving reheated food to the elderly after they have prepared it in their own kitchens.

"Many of these volunteers are middle-aged ladies who have cooked for their families for 40 years without poisoning anyone," Prince Charles says. "Awhole section of volunteers is in danger of being alienated. These sort of people will not volunteer if they are patronised or regulation makes it impractical." He adds: "This, I would contend, is the underlying danger of an increasingly over-regulated society."

But some recipients are flattered by his interest. Last night, a spokesman for Lord Irvine said: "The Prince of Wales does occasionally write to the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor has not complained in any way and, on the contrary, welcomes the correspondence."

The Prince's right to consult ministers in confidence was also backed by constitutional experts. Vernon Bogdanor, professor of government at Oxford University, said: "He's got a right to do so, some would say a duty. He will become the Sovereign. The more he understands about the country, the better for the country."

Another constitutional expert, the Conservative peer Professor Lord Norton of Louth, said: "The Prince of Wales has not started doing this under Labour; he was writing letters under the Conservatives too. It is up to ministers whether they listen to him."

The letters

The Prince of Wales is said to have "bombarded" the Lord Chancellor with letters on subjects ranging from human rights law and red tape to political correctness. Here are some of the reported extracts:

On legislation banning care home volunteers from cooking, supposedly to prevent food poisoning: "These sort of people will not volunteer if they are patronised or if regulation makes it impractical. This, I would contend, is the underlying danger of an increasingly over-regulated society."

On compensation culture: "The effect is multiplied by other issues relating to the passing of ever more proscriptive laws ­ for example, health and safety at work legislation, the blame culture they can in practise encourage and the bureaucratic red tape which accompanies new rules."

On the Human Rights Act: "I am unable to find a list of social responsibilities attached to it, and this betrays a fundamental distortion in social and legal thinking."

On the Army: "Training boundaries are at risk of being set more and more within the comfort zone that already questions, for example, the use of barbed wire on fences."

And, in a reported letter to the Prime Minister leaked before the Liberty and Livelihood march at the weekend, Charles apparently backed the view of a farmer from Cumbria who had told him: "If we, as a group, were black or gay, we would not be victimised or picked on."