Charles in Tory Charity Bungle

In an interview for the 2002 documentary series “Queen and Country”, Susan Crosland (wife of the late former Foreign Secretary) said of the Royal Family and politics, “One naturally assumes they would be Conservative”. Has Mrs Crosland hit on something we wonder? It’s no secret that the Queen Mother wasn’t keen on Tony Blair and the spats between the Queen and Lady Thatcher are fairly well documented but this recent foray into political intrigue has caused jitters at Westminster.

The Prince of Wales is infamous for his ‘spider-memos’ which some take more seriously than others. In 2006, the Telegraph claimed that; “Ministers [were] being bombarded” with the peak coming when former Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he found Prince Charles’s views, “Old fashioned and patronising”. Letters are one thing but now it seems that His Royal Highness may have inadvertently donated money to the Conservative Party. The accusation is that The Prince’s Trust gave £10,050 to a charity called “Women2Win”, a Conservative backed organisation that promotes more female Tory candidates in elections. Over two years ago, the Trust and Women2Win joined forces to host a fundraising luncheon with Baroness Thatcher as guest of honour with tickets going for just over £1,600 each.

British politicians now sweat at the word “donation”. Ever since Lloyd George sold honours for political support back in the 1920s, honours and politics have gone hand in hand despite the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act. Unfortunately for Mr Blair, he was the PM that got caught. As Westminster tries to open up on just how much money political parties recieve and where the money comes from, this Royal connection may well prove more explosive than either Charles or Gordon would like it to…

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Political Parties, The Prince of Wales, The Prince's Trust.