Tories at war as MP Tobias Ellwood says Liz Truss is wrong to ‘ban King Charles’ from Cop27 – but Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke says claims PM ‘ordered’ the King to stay away from climate change summit are ‘simply not true’
- King Charles will not attend the Cop27 climate change summit next month
- It is reported that new PM Liz Truss advised the new King to stay away
- There are rumours of disagreement between the King and the PM over climate
- Tory MP Tobias Ellwood said King should reconsider and go anyway to the event
King Charles was urged to attend a climate change summit next month and ignore Liz Truss’s advice to stay away today – by one of her own MPs.
The new King, a veteran environmental campaigner, reportedly scrapped plans to speak at the COP27 meeting in Egypt after the Prime Minister objected.
Last night, Buckingham Palace sources confirmed that Charles was no longer attending the event which he had planned to when he was Prince of Wales.
However sources insisted he had not been ordered to stay away by the PM and stressed instead that he had sought the advice of No 10. They said the decision for the King not to attend had been unanimous.
But today Tobias Elwood suggested he should consider going anyway.
He wrote online: ‘I hope common sense will prevail. King Charles is a globally respected voice on the environment and climate change.
‘His attendance would add serious authority to the British delegation. Can we really go from hosting COP26 to benching soft power at COP27?’
Meanwhile Levelling Up Secretary Simon Clarke said the decision that the King should not attend the international gathering in Egypt had been taken ‘consensually’ between the Government and the Palace.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood suggested King Charles should consider going to it anyway
Simon Clarke, Secretary of State for Levelling Up said the decision had been made by both
Mr E;;wood’s intervention seems unlikely to be welcomed by under-fire new PM Liz Truss
King Charles is a long-time environmental campaigner of environmental drives and causes
‘It’s been clear this is a decision that has been made consensually between the King and the Government,’ he told Times Radio.
‘That is a decision that has been made amicably, as far as I am aware, between the Palace and the Government. The suggestions this morning that he was ordered to stay away are simply not true.
‘I think it is very different when you are the host country for a major event like Cop to have the head of state involved as opposed to the head of state going to what is an event being hosted in Egypt.
‘It is the normal course of matters that this would be handled by the Government rather than by the monarchy.’
There was suggestions the decision was the first sign of Charles embracing his new role as King, after he indicated that he would step back from much of his campaigning work now that he was the sovereign.
A source said: ‘There is no suggestion of any row. Whether members of the Royal Family attend or not is up to the Foreign Office.’ Last night, Downing Street said: ‘We do not comment on private meetings between HM The King and the PM.’
It was speculated that the King had plans to make a speech at the upcoming Cop27 conference that would clash with the new government’s watered down climate change policies
Sources dismissed suggestions that Ms Truss had told the King not to attend, saying the Palace and the Government ‘agreed jointly there might be more suitable options’ for Charles’s first State visit, adding: ‘The idea that the PM can order the King what to do is ridiculous.’
However, The Sunday Times reported that Ms Truss had objected to him taking part in the Sharm- el-Sheik gathering during a personal audience last month.
The report said there had ‘not been a row’ but quoted a senior Royal source that the decision was made on the Government’s advice and was ‘entirely in the spirit of being ever-mindful as King that he acts on Government advice’.
The source said: ‘He had to think very carefully about what steps to take for his first overseas tour and he is not going to be attending COP.’
Charles was reportedly still determined to make his influence felt at the summit. A senior Royal insider said: ‘Just because he is not in physical attendance, that doesn’t mean His Majesty won’t find other ways to support it.’
Another source said: ‘The Queen gave an entirely non-political address at COP last year… it sounds like he is not being given the choice. That is an error of judgment on the part of the Government.’
It was not clear last night if Prince William would attend instead.
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