BBC Princess Diana interview report: Key points to look out for
ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship sets out what to expect from the Lord Dyson enquiry
Here are the key points to look out for today in the findings of Lord Dyson's independent enquiry into the Princess Diana interview with Martin Bashir on the BBC’s Panorama programme in 1995. Did Martin Bashir breach the BBC's editorial guidelines in securing the Princess Diana interview? Did Martin Bashir ask a colleague to make up false bank statements to show to Charles Spencer, to claim staff were being paid to leak stories to the tabloids? If he did so, is this a crime under forgery law?
Did Lord Hall the former director general of the BBC, and at the time the head of news, fail to properly investigate when Panorama staff raised concerns about the mocked-up bank statements. What explanation is given for the burglary at the home of Matt Wiessler, the graphic designer who was asked to make the bank statements, when the only items stolen from his flat where the floppy disks with the forgeries on them? Will the BBC apologise to Mr Wiessler after managers decided to give him no more work after he did what was asked of him by Martin Bashir. Why did Lord Hall conclude that Martin Bashir was a “honest and honourable man“ in the BBC’s internal investigation in 1996 when producers on Panorama had reasons to doubt his version of events?
Will the Metropolitan Police review their earlier decision that there is no evidence of criminality for them to investigate? Why did the BBC re-hire Martin Bashir as their religion editor in 2016 despite the allegations that had been made against him? Is it justifiable to say, as has been claimed by both Charles Spencer and Diana’s former private secretary Patrick Jephson, that there is a link between the 1995 interview and the Princess’ death in 1997 because the programme hastened the divorce with Prince Charles which stripped Diana of her royal protection officers?
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