Cabinet Office Accused of Withholding Royal Family Documents Related to Prince Andrew's Travel
The Cabinet Office has been accused of shielding the royal family by withholding minutes of No 10 meetings concerning royal visits from 2004 and 2005, which were due for public release. The withdrawn minutes suggested a change in the funding for Prince Andrew’s travel as the UK trade envoy, with expenses potentially covered by the Royal Travel Office rather than the Department of Trade and Industry. This change reportedly added about £90,000 to the Royal Travel Office budget. The visits included trips to China, Russia, southeast Asia, and Spain.
The National Archives' recent release also included material on Diana, Princess of Wales's death and a grovelling apology from John Major’s office for an improperly addressed Queen Mother birthday telegram. The Cabinet Office stated that the withdrawal of the 2004–2005 minutes was due to an administrative error and claimed that the minutes were never intended to be released.
Campaign group Republic argued that there should be no royal exemption from disclosure and suggested that pressure from the palace was behind the blocking to protect the royal family, especially Prince Andrew. A tranche of Diana-related documents released in 2005 under the Freedom of Information Act includes ambassador Michael Jay's account of events surrounding Diana's death. In 2005, Downing Street reportedly refused to release details of conversation between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac after the Paris incident, deeming such information confidential and not in the public interest.
No 10 has apologized for the mis-addressed Queen Mother telegram, with a private secretary acknowledging the error and a senior official later noting that telegrams appear to be going out of fashion.
