Government accused of cover up after censoring details of Andrew's taxpayer-funded travel
SOURCE:Daily Mail
Record of a 2004 Royal Visits Committee meeting which discussed allocating an extra £90,000 for Andrew's trips was pulled from public view at the last moment by the Cabinet Office.
Government officials have been accused of covering up for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as details of his taxpayer-funded travel were censored from National Archives documents.
Minutes of a 2004 Royal Visits Committee meeting which discussed allocating an extra £90,000 for Andrew's many foreign trips were originally due to be among the annual release of historic public documents by the National Archive today.
However, at the very last moment, it was marked as 'closed' by the Cabinet Office under a legal exemption for information about the Royal Family.
The record, which also mentioned that Prince William would not be required to do public engagements until he was 25, was among 10 similar documents removed from the file - including four in the last week.
Graham Smith, of campaign group Republic, said: 'There should be no royal exemption at all. But this exemption surely doesn’t apply to Andrew now he's no longer a royal.
'The most likely reason for this attempt to stop disclosure is pressure from the palace. The royals have sought to keep everything under wraps when it comes to Andrew, not to protect him but to protect themselves.
'The royals are one of the most secretive institutions in the UK. These documents should be released without fear or favour, to allow the public to make informed judgments about the royals.'
It comes after the Public Accounts Committee announced a new inquiry into the Crown Estate and its property leases to members of the Royal Family, with support from the National Audit Office.
Andrew Mountbatten-Winsor was known as Air Miles Andy during the 2000s due to the large number of taxpayer-funded foreign trips he took as a trade envoy
The confidential document containing details of the £90,000 extra needed to cover Andrew's trips was removed from a file released today by the National Archive
A yellow sheet dated December 19 2025 has been inserted where the Royal Visits Committee report used to be
The probe was prompted by a public outcry over the lease arrangements for Royal Lodge in Windsor, previously used by Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson for a peppercorn rent.
Andrew was stripped of his royal titles earlier this year by King Charles over his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The former prince previously worked for the UK Government as a trade envoy, promoting British businesses abroad - and was nicknamed 'Air Miles Andy' due to his extensive international travel.
The missing minutes, written by Sir Stephen Brown, who headed up the trade department, appear to suggest Andrew would need an extra £90,000 from the Royal Travel Office to fund his trips.
It is likely that the budget was being moved from one pot of taxpayers' cash to another.
According to the document, which was made available briefly to journalists prior to today's official release, listed Andrew's forthcoming destinations as China, Russia, Brunei, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, France and Spain.
There was also a discussion over whether he should visit the EURO 2004 football tournament in Portugal - and whether the Football Association may be willing to pay for it.
Last night, the Cabinet Office said the document was originally flagged for release as the result of an administrative error.
A spokesman said: 'All records are managed in line with the requirements of the Public Records Act. Any release is subject to an extensive review process, including engaging expert stakeholders.'
Last week, internal FBI documents showed that Andrew was wanted for questioning in the US over his friendship with Epstein, and his visit to the home of sex offender fashion tycoon Peter Nygard.
His lawyer ultimately fell out with investigators in a row over publicity, and whether Andrew could be grated immunity from prosecution for giving misleading answers.
The US Government also released emails apparently sent by Andrew from an anonymous address, asking Epstein's girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell to find him some more 'inappropriate friends'.
Tony Blair was heckled and slow-clapped by members of the WI because his 2000 speech was too political. New documents show he was warned in advance that this could happen
Blair ignored warning to avoid talking politics to the WI –– and paid the price
Tony Blair was warned to avoid talking about 'capital P politics' in his humiliating speech to the Women's Institute - where he was booed, heckled and slow-clapped by members.
The address in 2000 went disastrously wrong for the former prime minister because the 10,000-strong audience at Wembley Stadium found it far too political.
National Archives documents today reveal that Blair ignored an early warning to keep policy out of it and focus on issues that mattered to the fiercely non-political WI.
Instead, Blair used the speech as a platform to sell Labour as a party of traditional values and unveil a series of new policies.
He described the women, said to be the backbone of Britain, as 'the most terrifying audience I have seen'.
In an email two weeks before the speech, advisor Julian Braithwaite warned Blair that his audience would be 'wary of anything that smacked of capital P politics' and were 'clearly sensitive to being patronised'.
He advised the PM to focus instead on the WI's rural post office and children's hospice campaigns, and mention issues such as higher education for women, breast cancer screening and family values.
Blair's initial hand-written draft did just that, listing his main topics as post offices, parental leave, education and 'duty at the heart of any civic society'.
However, in an agonising series of memos from ministers and policy advisors, including his controversial spokesman Alistair Campbell, he was then lobbied to inject more politics.
In blistering criticism of the speech’s early draft, Campbell wrote to Blair saying he risked sounding 'apologetic' and 'rather Majoresque'.
'There has to be a sense that there is now absolute clarity about the overall mission and the next steps,' he wrote. 'There is not much sense of a recharged, refocused Blair firing on all fronts.'
He urged Blair to trail some new policies and 'inject hard news' into the speech.
'I am sorry to be so negative, but I fear the speech will not work as it stands and that far from getting you back in touch, it will have the opposite effect,' he warned.
Former minister Peter Hain was equally unhappy, emailing Blair to say: 'I don't like this speech at all.'
He said the PM should use it as an opportunity to explain how he intended to 'build a new ethos of responsibility in Britain'.
Anji Hunter, one of Blair's closest aides, advised him to make the speech 'more policy-rich' and to 'repeat our key phrases - a lot done, a lot still to do, excellence for all'.
She also recommended that he 'elaborate further on the state of the nation as you found it' and highlight achievements of the Labour government.
In the end, Blair's speech elicited an extremely hostile reception, causing him to abandon entire sections live on stage.
Some WI members got up and left, while others started slow hand-clapping about half way through, until chairman Helen Carey appealed for them to listen politely.
The Queen Mother replied to Major thanking him for his birthday greeting - despite the breach of royal protocol
Major apologised over Queen Mum birthday blunder – but blamed it on BT
The Queen Mother's private secretary complained to Downing Street that a 1994 birthday greeting to the late royal was addressed improperly, new documents show.
John Major's private secretary Roderic Lyne wrote a grovelling apology to the palace in August 1994 - blaming the phone company for the telegram blunder.
Details of the embarrassing breach of protocol are unclear, but it concerned the former prime minister's official message congratulating the Queen Mother on her 94th birthday.
Mr Lyne wrote to Sir Alastair Aird, the Queen Mother's private secretary, saying: 'I have checked that those who are responsible within Downing Street followed their normal procedure in sending the Prime Minister's telegram.
'The message itself, as it left our hands, was entirely correct. However, in transmitting it, it appears that British Telecom most unfortunately addressed the telegram in the improper manner which you described.
'I am so sorry that this happened. Our own staff are sticklers for the correct form, as you would imagine. Perhaps the solution would be for us to abandon telegrams, which seem in any case to be going out of fashion.'
Despite the complaints, the Queen Mother replied to Major on her birthday, telling him she was 'very touched' by his message and seeing her 'warm thanks' to him and wife Norma.
Dictator Robert Mugabe was described as 'depressingly healthy' for his age in government documents, which also discussed removing him from power by force
'Depressingly healthy': Blair government discussed removing tyrant Mugabe by force one year after Iraq
Tony Blair's foreign office warned against removing Zimbabwe's leader Robert Mugabe by force one year after the Iraq War, new documents show.
In a series of emails and memos from July 2004, released today by the National Archives, military action against the tyrant was discussed but later dismissed.
One detailed list of policy options showed how the Blair government desperately sought a more effective policy to undermine Mugabe's rule ahead of the England Cricket Tour.
It stated that despite being 80 years old, Mugabe was 'depressingly healthy', and mooted the idea of 'removing' him.
Policy advisor Laurie Lee wrote that recent experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq demonstrated that 'changing a government and/or its bad policies is almost impossible from the outside'.
Referring to the execution of Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Iraq, he said: 'If we really want to change the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe we have to do to Mugabe what we have just done to Saddam.
'The only candidate for leading such a military operation is the UK. No-one else (even the US) would be prepared to do so.'
However, he concluded that military action was 'not a serious option', and advised that 'tougher bilateral measures' would be more feasible.
Blair hand-wrote that the FCO needed to 'work out a complete strategy', adding: 'We should work out a way of exposing the lies and malpractice of Mugabe.'
Peter Mandelson advised Tony Blair to watch out for Gordon Brown ahead of the 2005 General Election - and warned that John Prescott would turn the campaign into 'one endless committee meeting'
Mandelson warned Blair about 2005 election threat from 'next door'
Peter Mandelson warned Tony Blair about the risk posed by Gordon Brown in the run-up to the 2005 general election - suggesting the chancellor could 'demolish' his campaign.
Disgraced spin doctor Mandelson told the former prime minister that 'next door' - referring to Brown's Downing Street residence - would 'want a good majority, but not want you to do well'.
In a message sent in October 2004, Mandelson said Brown's 'people' should be included in planning the election campaign 'without giving them a veto or scope for insider demolition'.
At the time, Blair and Brown were known to be at each other's throats over policy issues and who should be in charge.
Deputy prime minister John Prescott is said to have engineered a truce between the pair in 2003. However, in the newly released message, Mandelson took a dig at Prescott - saying they would have to stop him from turning their campaign into 'one long committee meeting'.
He also warned about the involvement of Alistair Campbell, who was then accused of 'sexing up' the dossier that started the Iraq War, saying: 'He is indispensable but must be equally invisible.'
Mandelson was sacked as the UK's ambassador to the US in September over his links to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Emails showed the peer sent him supportive messages after he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor in 2008.
In an interview, he said he believed further 'embarrassing' correspondence between himself and the paedophile - who he called his 'best pal' - would be published.
Last month, evidence that Mandelson was still in contact with Epstein as late as 2016 emerged in documents released by the US.
Meanwhile, other emails released today by the National Archives showed Blair was warned by his chief of staff Jonathan Powell that the Labour Party would 'cease to exist' if he placed a cap on political donations.
Mr Powell told him in 2002: 'The Tories have about 400 pensioners who give them £5,000 pa, so they would be in a better position than us.'
Further warnings about the state of his party came from former cabinet secretary Andrew Turnbull in May 2005.
He told him that the lack of up-and-coming ministerial talent was desperate, adding: 'If you think of yourself as a football manager who has no money for transfers and is reliant solely on graduating people through the academy, you have cause to be worried.'