Blair ignored Queen's plea to halt hunt ban
The Queen urged Prime Minister Tony Blair not to ban fox hunting, a new book has claimed.
The monarch reportedly attempted to impress upon the Labour leader the importance of hunting to rural communities, but to no avail.
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Despite her pleas, the Hunting Bill passed through Parliament and was given royal assent – dividing opinion across the South West.
In her book Elizabeth the Queen, biographer Sally Bedell Smith writes: "In her own quiet way, the Queen lobbied Blair during a weekend at Balmoral several years before the ban came to a vote.
"She patiently explained to him over dinner that hunting was an activity not only for the upper class but regular people as well.
"Some of the riders, she said, were far from well-off and rented their horses from livery stables."
According to Ms Bedell Smith, who has written previously about Princess Diana and the Kennedys, the Queen also told friends that she believed Blair was "in the wrong party".
Of the monarch's opinion of Mr Blair, Ms Bedell Smith claims: "Elizabeth II, as always, was circumspect about her own views of her tenth Prime Minister, although once, when asked by a friend, she said: 'I think he's in the wrong party'."
The biography is published tomorrow.
A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said the book had not been officially authorised by the palace and declined to comment.
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by 2ladybugs
Wednesday, January 11 2012, 7:13AM
“@HankySpanky
Yes well that is what you get when the news is over one day old. People tend to veer off topic and make up their own news. It makes for interesting and formative(occasionally) entertainment. Judging by what news is still here today I will be reading other news rags?”
by Hanky_Spanky
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 11:30PM
“As a public service to all of you good people I considered counting the number of comments that were off-topic and tell you how many I thought there were. Trouble is I ran out of fingers and toes and I didn't have anyone with me to use theirs.
My take on this story is, who knows if it is true just because someone has written a book but if it is then it highlights exactly why the monarch should refrain from expressing opinions on political matters.”
by homerjay
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 11:24PM
“Indeed Charles, we're told that Iran will have WMDs soon.
Mind you I did hear an interesting story about the The House of Windsor, Bush and Blair etc. that did explain why Blair spoke with a forked tongue...”
by Charlespk
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 10:15PM
“Hiya Max; I'm finding this whole World domination thing a bit depressing now. But I do feel that it may yet take the Yanks, at Arab League ministers request to quell President Bashar Al-Assad's ambitions. . His strutting puts me in the mind of Adolf. . . Then there's still Iran to deal with.
I think I'll go and have a lie down. . Charles”
by homerjay
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 9:33PM
“Reports of the U.S. demise is premature, but it's imperial ambitions are making their domination unsustainable, but it does make us wonder if lemmings are pulling the strings”
by Charlespk
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 9:03PM
“@Doitdreckley Tuesday, January 10 2012, 8:09PM
Doitdreckley; you do still talk some rubbish don't you.
It's King David's Reaction. . You should see a Doctor about it. . They'll give you something to take for it to help boost your self-esteem.
"Despite these big differences showing China's power for growing, the domestic market capitatlisation given by the world federation of exchanges was still $15tn for the US compared to only $3.6 tn for China."
http://tinyurl.com/4vo76vp”
by 2ladybugs
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 8:43PM
“@Lafrowda
How right you are. I too hope it is never put to the test.
There are so many formulas to come up with the most powerful country that this is a very contentious subject. It looks like the US is at present the superpower but if things go forward as they are now by about 2020 China could possibly take over.”
by Lafrowda
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 8:23PM
“the USA is no longer the most powerful nation on earth. Its China.
I hope that isn't ever put to the test.”
by Doitdreckley
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 8:09PM
“Blair only bannned foxhunting to placate the parliamentary Labour Party. its a pity they never had the balls to stop him invading Iraq. Hunting is in the DNA of the Mountbattens, they have no concept of the creulty or pointlessness of it.
And Charles, the USA is no longer the most powerful nation on earth. Its China.”
by SKoM_
Tuesday, January 10 2012, 7:40PM
“Grib/2ladybugs
The principal is the same as "in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king"
You mustn't be rude about the queen - I love the royal family and having a fashionista as our future queen is just what we need.”