The BBC covered up Diana interview failings, a report into the 1995 Panorama interview finds.
image copyrightGetty Images
The BBC has made an “unconditional apology” over the way it went about getting an interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, more than 20 years ago.
An independent inquiry by Lord Dyson, a former senior judge, found journalist Martin Bashir used deceptive tactics to secure the interview and then lied about his actions to BBC managers.
Princess Diana was the mother of Prince William and Prince Harry.
She married the Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne, in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, in 1981.
But the couple separated in 1992 and divorced in 1996.
The princess died in 1997, after the car she was in crashed in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, in Paris.
Her companion, Dodi Al Fayed, with whom she had been holidaying, and their chauffeur, Henri Paul, died when the car crashed.
Mr Al Fayed’s bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived the crash.
Analysis indicated Paul had 175 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, compared with the limit, under French law, of 50 milligrams per 100 millilitres, which equates to his having drunk more than a bottle of wine.
And as he tried to speed away from photographers following the car, he lost control and smashed into a concrete pillar.
The interview, broadcast in late 1995, was a huge scoop for the BBC – never before had a serving royal spoken in such candid terms about life in the Royal Family or relationships with other royals.
In the interview, Princess Diana:
- admitted having an affair
- said Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles (now his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall) had made her feel worthless
- spoke of there being “three of us” in the marriage
- said she had had bulimia and self-harmed
- suggested Prince Charles might not be able to adapt to being king
- said Prince Charles’s staff were waging a campaign against her
More than 20 million people watched the interview when it went out and it caused huge controversy.
Shortly afterwards, the Queen wrote to Prince Charles and Princess Diana telling them to divorce.
There was a fair amount of surprise when it was revealed Mr Bashir, a relatively junior BBC reporter with no known royal background or contacts, had the interview. But the revelations overshadowed questions over how he had achieved it.
image copyrightGetty Images
A few years later, he went to work for ITV’s Tonight With Trevor McDonald programme and then various US television networks.
He returned to the UK in 2016 and was reemployed by the BBC, as religion editor, a post he resigned from because of ill health in mid-May.
The report says that Mr Bashir used deception in his attempts to secure the interview.
He showed Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, forged bank statements appearing to show payments by a newspaper group to a former member of his staff.
The report says this was to gain Earl Spencer’s confidence so he would introduce Mr Bashir to his sister, Princess Diana.
Mr Bashir has admitted having the bank statements mocked up by a graphic artist working for the BBC.
However, when questioned by BBC bosses, he repeatedly denied showing these documents to Earl Spencer.
The report says Mr Bashir “lied and maintained the lie until he realised that it was no longer sustainable. This was most reprehensible behaviour which casts considerable doubt on his credibility generally”.
image copyrightGetty Images
The BBC comes in for strong criticism in the report.
After the forged bank statements were revealed by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, in early 1996, an internal BBC inquiry cleared Mr Bashir, Panorama and BBC News of wrongdoing.
The director of news who conducted the inquiry was Tony Hall, now Lord Hall, who later became the BBC director general.
However, the Dyson Report says this inquiry was inadequate because it failed to interview Earl Spencer – something it calls “a big mistake”.
It says it did not treat Mr Bashir’s account with “necessary scepticism and caution”, given that he admitted faking bank statements (itself a serious breach of BBC rules) and could give “no credible reason” why.
The report says that “without justification, the BBC fell short of the high standards of integrity and transparency which are its hallmark”.
The BBC says the report identified “clear failings” and that while it now has better procedures in place, “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.”