Bashir Slammed on BBC Panorama Diana Interview

Former BBC journalist Martin Bashir engaged in deceitful behaviour in order to secure a bombshell interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

That's just one of the findings of a report by former Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson, which was published earlier today.

The 127-page report was commissioned by the BBC after fresh allegations emerged that Bashir, who took ill-health retirement only a fortnight ago, had fed the Princess a cock and bull story in order to secure her participation in the famous Panorama Special interview.

The hour-long interview attracted an audience of 23 million viewers when it was broadcast on 20th November 1995. In it, the Princess revealed her insecurity in the Royal Family and confirmed that she had had an affair with James Hewitt. She referenced Camilla Parker Bowles, now Duchess of Cornwall, as the third person in her marriage to Prince Charles.

The key findings of the report, as helpfully summarised by the Evening Standard, are as follows:

• Martin Bashir breached BBC rules by mocking up fake bank statements and showing them to Diana's brother, Earl Spencer to gain access to the princess.
• The documents falsely suggested individuals were being paid for keeping the princess under surveillance.
• He acted to deceive Earl Spencer and encourage him to arrange for Bashir to meet Diana.
• Bashir was therefore able to persuade her to agree to give the interview.
• During a meeting in August 1995 Bashir told Earl Spencer he was a target of the tabloids and that his household contained informants who were selling private information about him to that end of the media.
• Lord Dyson said Bashir had engaged in "deceitful behaviour" in a "serious breach" of the BBC's producer guidelines.
• A letter, which was included as evidence in the report, written on official Kensington Palace stationery and signed by Diana says she consented to the interview "without any undue pressure and have no regrets concerning the matter".
• The BBC subsequently "fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark" in its internal investigation in 1996.
• Lord Dyson described the investigation as "flawed and woefully ineffective".
• Tony Hall, who was director of BBC news and current affairs when the Diana interview was screened, has apologised, saying it "fell well short of what was required".
• Steve Hewlett, who edited the Panorama interview, reassured Earl Spencer at the time of the interview that "Martin is one of my very best".
• However, Hewlett's widow Rachel Crellin offered Lord Dyson's inquiry "a detailed and strong response" to accusations that he was aware or involved in Bashir's behaviour.
• Lord Dyson did not investigate why Bashir was rehired by the BBC in 2016 because he did not consider it "sufficiently closely related" to his terms of reference.

BBC Director General, Tim Davie, said: "I would like to thank Lord Dyson. His report into the circumstances around the 1995 interview is both thorough and comprehensive. The BBC accepts Lord Dyson's findings in full.

 

"Although the report states that Diana, Princess of Wales, was keen on the idea of an interview with the BBC, it is clear that the process for securing the interview fell far short of what audiences have a right to expect. We are very sorry for this. Lord Dyson has identified clear failings.

"While today's BBC has significantly better processes and procedures, those that existed at the time should have prevented the interview being secured in this way. The BBC should have made greater effort to get to the bottom of what happened at the time and been more transparent about what it knew. 

"While the BBC cannot turn back the clock after a quarter of a century, we can make a full and unconditional apology. The BBC offers that today."

This evening The Duke of Cambridge responded to the Dyson report.

In a rare public statement, he said: "It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview was a major contribution to making my parents' relationship worse and has since hurt countless others.

"It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC's failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.

"But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived. She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.

The Duke concluded: "In an era of fake news, public service broadcasting and a free press have never been more important. These failings, identified by investigative journalists, not only let my mother down, and my family down; they let the public down too."

Your can read the full Dyson report here.

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