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1st LD: Britain publishes Prince Charles's "Black Spider" letters to Tony Blair

Xinhua, May 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

A batch of private letters sent by Britain's Prince Charles to former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair and other government ministers were published Wednesday, sparking public scrutiny over whether the heir to the British throne had interfered with government policy-making.

The letters were made public following a decade-long legal battle, in which the Guardian newspaper insisted on seeing the letters under British Freedom of Information legislation.

The 27 letters and memos, dubbed "black spider memos" because of Prince Charles's unique handwriting, were written between September 2004 and April 2005.

They covered a wide range of issues, including badger culling, hill farmers, bovine tuberculosis (TB), procurement of British produce and challenges for the dairy sector. Endit