Tonga's Minister of Justice, Clive Edwards, has called on the Privy Council to stop trying to control the government.
Earlier this year Parliament passed amendments that would re-instate the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, which would ensure the judiciary was independent of the Crown.
This had been the arrangement in 2010 until a change by the late King which put the Lord Chancellor in charge of appointments.
King George the 6th is yet to assent to the amendments and the Privy Council wants instead to make the interim Lord Chancellor's post permanent.
Mr Edwards says this is making a mockery of the system in Tonga.
"We don't want this system to be a permanent system because it's not workable. And furthermore, it's a farce. It's ridiculous"
Clive Edwards.
