News Digest

Prince Charles challenged Tony Blair over ‘poorly-equipped’ army in Iraq

The Prince of Wales tackled former prime minister Tony Blair over a lack of resources for the Armed Forces fighting in Iraq, previously secret letters have revealed. Publication of correspondence between Charles and government ministers following a long-running legal battle revealed the Prince lobbied Mr Blair and other ministers on a range of issues from badgers and TB to herbal medicine, education and illegal fishing. Twenty-seven letters - 10 from Charles to ministers, 14 by ministers and three letters between private secretaries - were released following a 10-year campaign by Guardian journalist Rob Evans to see the documents after a freedom of information request.

I fear this is just one more example of where our Armed Forces are being asked to do an extremely challenging job (particularly in Iraq) without the necessary resources.

Letter from Prince Charles to Tony Blair in 2004

The Prince, who will one day as king be head of the Armed Forces, complained to Blair about British forces in Iraq “being asked to do an extremely challenging job without the necessary resources”. In one detailed and lengthy letter to Mr Blair, dated September 8 2004, the Prince wrote of problems with deploying new Oxbow surveillance technology, which he described as a “major advance” for the military. But he warned the deployment of the equipment was “being frustrated by the poor performance of the existing Lynx aircraft in high temperatures”.