People’s Rights Trumped by Feudal Privilege
The government has taken the side of the Windsor clan against the people, blocking a ruling by an information freedom tribunal that efforts by Charles Windsor to use his privileged status to influence public policy should be disclosed to the people.
An information tribunal chaired by a judged had agreed that freedom of information laws required that letters from the son of the son of the head of state be made public. The decision was vetoed by the Attorney General Dominic Grieve.
This was only the fifth time in ten years that the veto has been used. Grieve said that letting the people know details of Windsor’s interference in policy making would be ‘seriously damaging to his role as future monarch’. Defenders of Britain’s feudal system often justify the privileges of “queens” and “kings” with the claim that they are not to interfere in political matters in the way that Windsor does.
The right wing Spectator magazine defended the decision as necessary in the interests of national security. In a demonstration of the bizarre lengths monarchists will go to protect feudal institutions it accused republicans who wanted the letters disclosed of trying to hold “the entire political process to ransom”. The magazine argued that if Windsor’s letters were published intelligence agencies might be obliged to disclose sensitive intelligence.
Emails sent by members of the executive using private email accounts have recently been found to be covered by freedom of information regulations.
It was recently revealed that Windsor clan members are consulted on some legislation and allowed to block it if it conflicts with their interests.