LONDON — Boris Johnson confronted then-Prince Charles over criticism of a controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, Johnson’s former communications chief claimed Tuesday.
Guto Harri, who served as director of communications at No. 10 Downing Road, stated the previous prime minister had “squared up” to the long run king at a Commonwealth assembly in Rwanda final June. Johnson’s allies branded the account “inaccurate.”
Britain has signed a deal to deport asylum seekers to the East African nation — a transfer criticized by human rights campaigners and challenged within the courts.
Johnson and Charles’ assembly occurred within the wake of media studies — not explicitly denied by Clarence Home on the time — that the then-prince of Wales had branded the proposal “appalling.” Johnson has beforehand described the assembly between the 2 males as “a superb previous chinwag.”
However, writing within the Each day Mail Tuesday as he promotes a brand new podcast, Harri contradicted that rosy briefing.
“What really occurred was much less amicable,” he stated, claiming that Johnson had as a substitute gone in “fairly exhausting” on the assembly, “primarily squaring as much as the prince and confronting him about what he — as unelected royalty — had stated concerning the actions of a democratically elected authorities.”
In keeping with Harri, Johnson challenged the long run king — meant to remain above the political fray — on the media briefing, arguing that Charles might have had his workforce “ring the newspapers and kill the story” however selected to not.
Harri stated ties between the 2 males had been frayed for years and that Charles can be “relieved that Boris had left No. 10 earlier than he ascended to the throne.”
The Each day Mail cited “sources near” Johnson as saying: “This account is just inaccurate and doesn’t replicate the dialog that occurred. Boris Johnson has had nothing to do with this podcast, had no information of it and deplores any try to report such conversations in public.”
Pressed on the declare on LBC Radio Tuesday morning, Harri doubled down, saying the pair had had “a little bit of a showdown” as a result of the “the person who’s now king criticised what was A: extraordinarily fashionable authorities coverage; B: very central authorities coverage; and C: on the eve of the 2 of them going to the very place on the coronary heart of the story, Rwanda.”
“Clearly they didn’t sq. as much as get within the ring,” he added. “However Boris, rightly, challenged the unelected royal on the time.”
