BBC ‘covering up a cover-up’, says Diana’s brother

Earl Spencer accuses BBC of ‘hiding behind expensive lawyers’ after broadcaster failed to produce documents related to the scandalous Panaroma interview.

The now infamous interview between Martin Bashir and Princess Diana was broadcast in 1995. Picture: Getty

Princess Diana’s brother has accused BBC executives of a “cover-up of the cover-up” surrounding Martin Bashir’s interview with his sister.

Earl Spencer condemned the “integrity” of executives as it emerged yesterday (Sunday) that the BBC had yet to hand over documents relating to the scandal surrounding the 1995 Panorama program.

A judge has ordered the documents be released with the “utmost expedition” and criticised the broadcaster as “inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable” when considering requests for information.

Diana told Bashir that “there were three of us in this marriage” in reference to the relationship of her husband, now the King, with Camilla. “The problem here is one of the integrity of people at the BBC,” Spencer, 59, told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House.

“We have various operatives quite high up in the BBC, because only people very high up could give authority to besmirch people’s names and cloud issues and hire very expensive lawyers.”

The BBC is estimated to have spent more than $190,000 on legal fees trying to block the release of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act.

Earl Spencer said it was now known there were 38 emails between Bashir and BBC executives between 1995 and the few years after that. Picture: Supplied

An investigation by the journalist Andy Webb on the 25th anniversary of the interview revealed a senior BBC executive had falsely claimed that Spencer had conspired with Bashir to persuade Diana to take part. Webb has won an appeal to an information tribunal after the BBC refused to release 3,000 documents relating to the case which he believes show a continuing cover-up. The scandal caused by his initial disclosures led to the BBC commissioning an investigation by Lord Dyson, who concluded in 2021 that the broadcaster had carried out a “woefully ineffective” inquiry and “covered up” what it knew of Bashir’s “deceit”.

Spencer said: “Lord Dyson did a brilliant job dealing with the brief he was given, which was very much the events of 1995 and the few years after that. This deals with the cover-up of the cover-up and that only goes back to the autumn of 2020. I was told when I approached the BBC management at that time there was no way we could talk to Martin Bashir - he was too ill to talk.”

I’m on @BBCRadio4 at 9.30am as a guest of @bbcpaddy to discuss the latest damning conclusion by a judge on what I believe to be an ongoing BBC coverup relating to the Bashir/Panorama scandal. The BBC is too important a body to be brought down by rogue operatives - however senior.

— Charles Spencer (@cspencer1508) December 10, 2023

Spencer said it was now known there were 38 emails between Bashir and BBC executives during this period.

Judge Brian Kennedy has now ordered the broadcaster to disclose more emails. The corporation argued the unreleased emails contained data that was “irrelevant” or “legally privileged”.

In a 20-page ruling, the judge criticised the BBC’s “inconsistent, erroneous and unreliable” handling of Webb’s request, which he described as “an unsatisfactory state of affairs”.

The documents have still not been turned over as the BBC said it was considering an appeal.

The BBC said in a statement: “The BBC fully accepted during the course of these proceedings that mistakes had been made in this case in the past. We have worked to improve our processes since and we have apologised to Mr Webb and the tribunal. We are currently considering the tribunal’s decision carefully and it would not be appropriate to comment while the legal proceedings are ongoing.”

The Times