Bashir inquiry: BBC has to ‘rebuild trust’ says Stewart Purvis

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Last week, Lord Dyson uncovered that Martin Bashir, used “deceitful behaviour” to secure the interview with Princess Diana in 1995 leading to a flood of criticism and backlash against the BBC who knowingly “covered up” the evidence. The Prince of Wales has not publicly responded to the Bashir probe, although both of his sons released statements condemning Mr Bashir’s actions.

A friend of Prince Charles told The Sun: “The narrative that came from that interview about Charles needs to be changed.

“He is privately furious that it has taken 27 years.

“The interview and allegations caused long-term damage to the future king and his household.”

The British broadcaster has since written to the Prince of Wales and agreed never to show the programme again according to reports.

In a letter, BBC Director-General Tim Davie, apologised for Mr Bashir’s “lurid and untrue claims” about Charles and his staff.

The letter said the BBC accepts that Bashir made claims “intending to play on the princess’s fears, in order to arouse her interest in him, and without concern for the impact on those he maligned”.

Lord Dyson’s report condemned Mr Bashir for what it called a “serious breach” of BBC guidelines and “fell short of high standards of integrity and transparency”.

It also laid bare the BBC’s “woefully ineffective” internal inquiry which failed to see through Mr Bashir’s deceit and false documents.

In a statement made shortly after the report, Prince William said that the deceitful way the interview was obtained “substantially influenced” what princess Diana said and the “false narrative” was “a major contribution” to making his parents’ relationship worse.

During the interview, Diana famously told Mr Bashir “there were three of us in the marriage”, referring to Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The Duke of Cambridge added that the “BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation.

“She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.”

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Peter Hunt, an ex-BBC correspondent and presenter, said the BBC had never before been “savaged like this by a senior royal”.

Mr Hunt added that it was a “bold move” by the Duke of Cambridge to “recast his mother’s 1995 Panorama interview as a ‘false narrative’.”

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