Martin Bashir blamed ‘professional jealousy’
within BBC for furore over Diana interview
Internal emails reveal he also said his ethnicity and
working-class background helped to make him a target
Tom Ambrose
and agency
Tue 30 Jan
2024 23.24 GMT
Martin
Bashir blamed “professional jealousy” and his background and ethnicity after
allegations that he used deceit to secure an interview with Diana, Princess of
Wales, it has been revealed.
The BBC has
released about 3,000 internal emails relating to the scandal over the 1995
interview with Diana, after a court order issued last December.
The
investigative journalist Andy Webb put in the freedom of information (FoI)
request more than two years ago, after claims that BBC managers had tried to
cover up Bashir’s actions.
However,
the BBC said any suggestion that it had acted in bad faith was “simply wrong”.
In an email
dated 20 July 2020, Bashir told the head of BBC history, Robert Seatter, that
forged documents played no role in obtaining the interview and it would have
caused less controversy if a “dynastic” journalist such as a David Dimbleby had
been involved.
He wrote:
“I am sorry to hear that this so-called ‘forgery’ story has reared its head
again. It played no part in the interview but did allow professional jealousy,
particularly within the corporation, to hang its hat on alleged wrongdoing.
“At the
time, it was also apparent that there was some irritation that a
second-generation immigrant of non-white, working-class roots should have the
temerity to enter a Royal Palace and conduct an interview.
“It would
have been so much easier if one of the dynastic families (Dimbleby et al) had
done it!”
The
scandal, over how Bashir secured a Panorama interview with Diana in 1995,
emerged after the former BBC head of news Tony Hall suggested in a confidential
briefing that Diana’s brother, Charles Spencer, had given Bashir bank
statements.
But Bashir
had faked bank statements in 1995 and showed them to Earl Spencer to gain
access to Diana in a “serious breach” of the broadcaster’s producer guidelines.
Bashir told
Seatter he had been praised by the then-Prince of Wales’s staff for not giving
interviews about the programme, PA Media reported.
He wrote:
“Since returning to the UK in 2015, and rejoining the BBC in 2016, senior staff
in the Prince of Wales’s Office (to my surprise) have expressed their gratitude
for my declining of all requests to discuss the interview.
“As I am
sure you will understand, the words of the late princess have been deployed to
attack surviving members of the Royal Family, particularly the Prince of Wales
[Charles], something that I have never wanted to do.”
A BBC
spokesperson said on Tuesday: “Throughout this process we have taken our
responsibilities to comply with the directions of the tribunal extremely
seriously. Therefore, we’ve today released approximately 3,000 documents, some
10,000 pages, to Mr Webb.
“This
latest disclosure includes many hundreds of pages of duplicates and material
that was not related to the 1995 Panorama, but was nevertheless caught by the
electronic searches.
“We have
made redactions, where necessary, consistent with the Freedom of Information
Act. There is nothing to support the allegations that the BBC acted in bad
faith in 2020 and we maintain this suggestion is simply wrong.”
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