Princess Diana’s brother has said he believes senior individuals at the BBC are conducting a fresh “cover up” at the corporation concerning who knew what in the wake of Martin Bashir’s controversial 1995 interview with the princess.
In an interview with the BBC Radio 4 show Broadcasting House on Sunday, Earl Charles Spencer said he believed that the senior executives conspired with Bashir even after 2020.
Spencer was speaking after investigative journalist Andy Webb won a freedom of information battle to force the BBC to hand over 3,288 emails which could throw light on an alleged ongoing cover-up at the corporation concerning Bashir’s controversial interview.
A judge this weekend ordered the documents to be released to Webb, who believes the documents could reveal how as recent as three years ago, senior BBC figures sought to obfuscate about the Corporation’s “woefully ineffective” investigation into Bashir.
On Broadcasting House, Spencer said that Webb was focused on the “cover up of the cover-up. This goes back to the autumn of 2020. I was told when I approached BBC management at that time that there was no way we could talk to Martin Bashir—he was too ill to talk and he was written off by doctors as such.
“But we know—we haven’t been able to read them yet—there are 38 emails between Bashir and senior people at the BBC at this time. My suspicion is that they were cooking up a story to try and make him unavailable during a time of particular interest in Diana’s interview, which was the 25th anniversary. And I believe that the people responsible for this cover-up were thinking, ‘If we can string this out long enough, keep Bashir ‘off games’ effectively for a few weeks, this thing will blow away.’”
Broadcasting House presenter Paddy O’Connell said to Spencer, “We haven’t seen these emails, and you will be speculating there.”
Spencer replied, “I’ve seen more than most. I’ve seen redacted emails that haven’t been released.”
A spokesperson for the BBC told the program: “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 apologized 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.”
Bashir faked bank statements to fuel Diana’s paranoia that people close to her were selling her secrets, a 2021 report into the interview found. The report prompted Prince William to say the interview should never be shown again.
Webb, however, believes there is still more to the story and has sought the release of BBC internal emails. The BBC tried to avoid releasing them, but has now been ordered to do so.
In an article for the Mail on Sunday, Webb writes that the BBC “have fought tooth and nail to keep 3,000 documents…under wraps.”He adds: “I believe that in 2020, when the scale of Bashir’s deception finally began to emerge, senior figures currently running the BBC planned a completely new and cynical campaign to mislead the public about what was known about the reporter’s nefarious activities.”
These include, he says, a memo which attempted to discredit Diana’s brother, falsely saying Spencer had “colluded with Bashir” by showing Bashir “the bank statement of an ex-employee.” Spencer appeared to refer to this shocking allegation in the Broadcasting House interview, saying he believed the “various operatives” involved were “quite high up in the BBC because only people very high up could give authority to besmirch people’s names.”
Asked how he had reacted to the new episodes of The Crown depicting his sister’s death, Spencer told Broadcasting House: “I don’t watch The Crown actually… I think people now realize more than even three or four years ago how speculative the storylines are of The Crown so I think people are aware that this is fiction based on, loosely, on factual events … but yes it’s exhausting, and it’s always been that way.”
Spencer then returned to why he was challenging the BBC. “I see this as a point of principle. I believe the BBC should be guarded by responsible senior figures, and not hidden behind to protect their careers… Part of what I’m doing here… is a part of the legacy of my love for my younger sister.”