Tory leader William Hague has backed the monarchy, accusing ministers and Labour MPs of using the countess of Wessex's problems as an excuse to take "potshots" at the monarchy.

When tackled on the countess's reported comments that he "sounds like a puppet", Hague said that it was "water off a duck's back". Writing in the New Statesman, Tony Blair's father-in-law, Tony Booth, attacks the "ill-mannered" and "greedy" minor royals.