Black spider letters: Prince Charles warned Blair that British troops lacked 'necessary resources' - as it happened

Prince of Wales's so-called 'black spider' memos to Government departments are published after a 10-year legal battle - follow latest updates

That concludes our rolling coverage of the Prince Charles 'black spider' letters. Read our latest story on the disclosure that Tony Blair privately acknowledged the failings of Britain's helicopters in Iraq after being warned by the Prince of Wales that troops were being put at risk because they lacked "necessary resources". Good night.

20.30

Law firm law Bevan Brittan has said that the disclosure of private letters sent by the Prince of Wales to ministers is likely to increase pressure for a further review of the Freedom of Information Act.

Emma Godding, Head of Information Law at Bevan Brittan, said: “The new government will need to decide how it will respond to the judgment and no doubt the Act will face greater scrutiny. The use of the FoIA has expanded way beyond the scale anyone anticipated when it was introduced a little over 10 years ago.

“The Supreme Court drew a line in the sand, making it clear that the government of the day cannot overrule the decisions of the courts in relation to the application of FoIA simply because it disagrees with the courts' view.

“It would be politically challenging for any government to attempt to withdraw from what is now a well established access to information regime.

“However, the cost and large amounts of time involved in handling FoIA requests are now significant issues. One option is for the Government to consider further limiting its scope, but that in itself could face legal challenge.”

18.55

Jacob Rees-Mogg comments on the disclosure of the Prince of Wales' 'black spider letters'.

18.20

The Prince of Wales exchanged correspondence with two Labour education secretaries, discussing healthy eating in schools and professional development for teachers.

The letters show some of Charles's thoughts on schooling, revealing that he finds the idea that teachers should not impart knowledge but act as "coaches" "difficult to understand" and that he believed approaches to teaching and learning needed to be "challenged".

In one, the Prince begins by congratulating Ruth Kelly on being appointed Education Secretary, adding he suspects "it may not be the easiest of tasks", while in another he starts a report to her predecessor Charles Clarke by referring to himself as someone with "old-fashioned views (!)".

There are five letters in total which discuss an annual residential course established by the Prince in 2002. The first, from Charles's office, was written to Mr Clarke in October 2004 is about a feasibility study which looked at the potential for developing the Prince's Education Summer Schools - which the then Department for Education and Skills was helping to fund.

The second comes from Charles to Mr Clarke directly and begins by saying: "If you can bear to receive a report on this year's Education Summer School from someone with such old-fashioned views (!), I particularly wanted to express my gratitude to you for your continuing support of this venture which, as you will recall, was held in Buxton at the end of June."

Typed on Clarence House headed paper, in November 2004, the letter later says: "I need hardly add that it would be absolutely marvellous if, having contributed to the study, you felt able to continue supporting the initiative into 2005 and beyond... But perhaps I am now too dangerous to associate with!".

17.40

Among the letters to Tony Blair, the Prince makes a joke about the Freedom of Information Act - the very legislation which enabled the publication of his correspondence.

In a letter dated February 24, 2005, Charles said: "It was very good to see you again the other day and, as usual, I much enjoyed the opportunity to talk about a number of issues.

"You kindly suggested that it would be helpful if I put them in writing - despite the Freedom of Information Act!"

Charles is known to have a good relationship with ministers from all parties and his letters to them are about issues he cares deeply about.

The publication of his correspondence is unlikely to put him off raising matters that are brought to his attention in the future.

The Prince's principal private secretary William Nye said: "He will think about how he deals with things but I think he'll continue to want to reflect the views that he hears from members of the public, and talk about things that matter to our society and the world to ministers of any government."

17.30

A passion for Patagonian toothfish

The Prince also carried out correspondence with environment, food and rural affairs minister Elliot Morley on the subject of illegal fishing and the High Seas Task Force Mr Morley was chairing to tackle the problem.

In October 2004, he wrote to the minister: "I must say it is enormously encouraging to know of your efforts to try and bring to heel the recalcitrant countries who sanction, either directly or by turning a blind eye, pirate and illegal fishing".

And he added: "I particularly hope that the illegal fishing of the Patagonian Toothfish will be high on your list of priorities because until that trade is stopped, there is little hope for the poor old albatross, for which I will continue to campaign."

Charles had been raising concerns about the plight of albatrosses for years, thousands of which were dying each year due to illegal fishing, and his concern increased as more albatross species came closer to extinction, Clarence House said.

In the letter he raised the issue of whether the Royal Navy could play a role in tackling illegal fishing and said he was looking forward to the publication of a Royal Commission report on sustainable fishing, writing: "I hear on my own grapevine that it may be quite hard-hitting."

"Let us hope that between all of us who mind about sustainable fishing, we can make a difference before it is all too late," he wrote.

17.20

Prince Charles also complained to Mr Blair about the Office of Fair Trading, writing: "Unfortunately, I am told that the Office of Fair Trading is becoming a serious obstacle to developing dairy co-operatives of the necessary size and influence.

"As I understand it, it sees the United Kingdom as ring-fenced with the Channel acting as a barrier to imports, which is, of course, ridiculous."

He added that Mr Blair had said he would look at the matter and "see if there was anything which could be done to help the O.F.T to take a wider view".

Mr Blair, in his letter of response dated October 11, 2004, reminds the Prince of the OFT's independence.

"Of course, as you recognise, they are rightly an independent body and I couldn't influence them even if I wanted to," the then prime minister wrote.

Both Mr Blair and the heir to the throne signed their letters to one another "Yours ever".

17.10

Prince Charles also lobbied Tessa Jowell over Antarctic refuge huts used by Shackleton and Scott.

He wrote: "I am at a loss to understand how this restoration project can be correctly described as 'overseas'?

"Whatever the case, and however futile my plea to you for a bit of imaginative flexibility in the interpretation of these rules, I just want to emphasize the iconic importance of these huts in those great Antarctic journeys."

17.05

The Prince of Wales wrote to former culture secretary and Labour London mayoral hopeful Tessa Jowell to lobby for the protection of buildings at the capital's iconic Smithfield Market, which were slated for demolition.

Quote As you know, I attach the greatest importance to preserving, restoring and re-using such precious heritage townscapes and I can only pray that the deputy prime minister will take your advice and give the most careful consideration to development plans," he wrote.

17.00

 The Prince of Wales described opponents of a badger cull as "intellectually dishonest" in a letter to Tony Blair advocating culling to tackle tuberculosis in cattle.

Writing in February 2005, to the then prime minister, Charles criticised the "badger lobby" for not minding about the slaughter of cattle which contract the disease but objecting to the killing of badgers.

He urged Mr Blair to "look again at introducing a proper cull of badgers where it is necessary", warning that the rising number of cases of TB in cattle was the most pressing and urgent problem facing the agricultural sector.

And he pointed to a study in Ireland which he said proved that badger culling was effective in ridding cattle of TB.

"I, for one, cannot understand how the 'badger lobby' seem to mind not at all about the slaughter of thousands of expensive cattle, and yet object to a managed cull of an over-population of badgers - to me, this is intellectually dishonest," he wrote.

16.55

The Telegraph's Peter Spence points out one letter to Tony Blair in which the Prince appears to recommend a candidate for an independent, official job.

16.50

In another series of letters from 2004, Patricia Hewitt, then secretary of state for trade and industry, tells how she met Robin Boles, chief executive of the charity In Kind Direct, which was set up by Charles.

In the letters the Labour minister said she could not help by giving funding directly to In Kind Direct, which redistributes surplus goods from manufacturers and retailers to charities, but said she would try to assist it by introducing it to other public sector bodies and Government colleagues.

Ms Hewitt suggested In Kind Direct apply to the South East of England Development Agency for funding, which it did. But the charity was turned down.

According to the letter, she also alerted a government initiative called Corporate Challenge to the work of the charity, which was founded to increase corporate support for community organisations.

Charles wrote back to Ms Hewitt the following month, thanking her for her efforts and saying the Government's Corporate Challenge programme goes to "the very heart" of what he was trying to achieve.

Towards the end of the letter, the Prince said if there was no success with the Corporate Challenge team, the minister may be hearing from him again.

Charles was at St James's Palace in central London when the letters were released.

He spoke at the Prince's Trust's Our Young People Our Future conference, before joining a reception with supporters to mark 40 years of the Trust, in front of guests including the television presenters Ant and Dec, who are Trust ambassadors, and Channel 4 newsreader Jon Snow.

The Prince made no mention of the letters during his speech.

16.45

In one note, Prince Charles concludes a letter to a Northern Ireland Minister, Paul Murphy, by saying 'apologies for pestering you about so many things'.