Princess Diana's Panorama interview: Here's how Martin Bashir tricked his bosses at BBC into trusting him
It has been 25 years since BBC aired Princess Diana's interview on 'Panaroma'. The interviewer was Martin Bashir and for the longest time, this was considered one of the biggest scoops in UK media history. However, over the years, there have been many claims about how Bashir had misled Princess Diana into providing the interview. Especially now, when Princess Diana's son Prince William is also attacking the network over the same.
An inquiry led by the former Supreme Court judge Lord Dyson has found that not only did Bashir manage to lie his way into getting acquainted with Earl Spencer but he also repeatedly lied to his superiors who, in a way helped him avoid any action taken against him. The inquiry by Lord Dyson has found Bashir to be "unreliable", "devious" and "dishonest". In the face of this, we are posed with a very important question.
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How did Martin Bashir manage to elude top BBC executives?
BBC executives were top journalists with keen eyes to spot lies like the claims made by Bashir about his source. Bashir, in fact, used the services of former colleague Matt Wiessler to draw a mock bank statement of Spencer's former head of security and ex-soldier Alan Waller.
Bashir claimed that Waller was being paid regularly by Rupert Murdoch's News International and the intelligence services to spy on the Spencer family and this was how he got a foot in with Earl Spencer, who after another follow-up meeting decided to invite his sister Princess Diana to sit with Bashir for a talk. At this time, he had heard from Bashir that the private secretary of Prince Charles, Commander Richard Aylard, was conspiring against Diana. He was clearly worried about Princess Diana, but he decided to meet Bashir again after 'Panorama' editor Steve Hewlett told him that Bashir was 'one of his best'.
In a follow-up meeting Bashir amped up his claims but at this time Spencer did see that there were claims that did not add up and he said as much to his sister. On September 19, 1995, when Bashir had met Spencer and Princess Diana, he had made 30 claims — all of which corroborated with what Princess Diana had reportedly been feeling at the time. So everything fell into place for Bashir as Princess Diana agreed to the interview. However, a month after the interview was broadcast, alarm bells began to ring. It started with Wiessler coming out about having helped Bashir mock up the bank statements. He also claimed that this fake bank statement was used to get Princess Diana's interview.
Wiessler had got in touch with current affairs bosses Tim Gardam and Tim Suter at this time. Before this, however, he explained that he had got in touch with Panorama editor Steve Hewlett who assured him that everything was okay. From the reports, Hewlett seems to have played a role in covering up Bashir's violation of journalism ethics. However, he died of cancer in 2017 and some questions continue to be unanswered. former Panorama deputy editor Harry Dean, reporter Tom Mangold and producer Mark Killick broached the subject of Bashir's antics. However, they were told by the Hewlett that it was none of their business.
Hewlett was asked if he knew about the fake bank statement and he said he didn't remember. So he was also told to talk to Spencer once. However, none of the communication following this indicates that Hewlett had compared Bashir's claims against that of Spencer's.
Lord Dyson also claimed that the investigation led by Tony Hall and Anne Sloman into Bashir's conduct was "flawed and woefully ineffective". This also helped Bashir continue to claim that the source of the bank statement had indeed been Princess Diana.
Of course, the most obvious question would be how he got the information even before he met Diana. Four times, he was asked if he had used the same to get the interview with Princess Diana and he lied. He was questioned initially by Gardam, Hewlett and Suter right after Wiessler spoke to them. He was asked to get Princess Diana's word in writing that she was in no way coerced to give out this interview and this request was met. That was how Bashir's senior colleagues were able to breathe a sigh of relief and let the incident be. With the Mail's investigation into how Martin Bashir got the interview and the mention of fake documents, Gardam wanted to ensure that Bashir had indeed not shown the fakes that he had drawn up to either Spencer or Princess Diana. This was the second time he lied.
Yet again, on March 23, 1996 Bashir was asked about the fake bank statements at which time he lied again. However, that afternoon, Gardam wanted more reassurance and sought out Bashir's confirmation and that was when he finally revealed that he had indeed shown the fake statements to Spencer fearing the imminent publishing of the story by the Mail. When the Mail did firm up its story and published about Bashir's antics, Approved by both Hall and Hewlett, the BBC issued a statement saying the documents were "never connected in any way to the Panorama on Princess Diana".
A fortnight after the Mail on Sunday story, Sloman noted that "The Diana story is now dead, unless Spencer talks. There's no indication that he will." Bashir too had put Diana off limits for questioning by claiming she was the source of the information.