BBC reporter ‘the only one with answers’

The graphic designer who c r ea t ed documents for Martin Bashir has called for the former Pa n o r a m a reporter to provide “answers” about his famous interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

The BBC has said that Mr Bashir, now the BBC ’s religion editor, is seriously ill with Covid-related complications.

The allegations centre on claims by Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer.

He said he was shown “false bank statements” by Mr Bashir which were used to help gain access to Diana for the interview.

Graphic designer Matt Wiessler also criticised former BBC boss Lord Hall, who led the internal inquiry in 1996 into whether or not Diana was misled.

Lord Hall was director of BBC news and current affairs at the time of the inquiry, which concluded that the graphic played no role in Diana’s decision to do the interview.

But the BBC’s board of governors was told , following the inquiry, there had been “steps to ensure that the graphic designer will not work for the BBC again”.

Mr Wiessler told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was “abso lute ly gobsmacked” to discover that “a board of governors meeting, there to look into what Martin had done” had made him “the scapegoat”.

“I don’t know how you can plausibly tell a story that a graphic designer is to blame.

“And I’ve been living with this for 25 years. And when I saw this, this decree that went out... I was pretty angry... because I thought it was utterly unfair.”

The name of the person who wrote that the “graphic designer will not work for the BBC again” is not published on the internal BBC document, which has just come to light.

But Mr Wiessler said of Lord Hall: “People in his position, who are on executive salaries, when push comes to shove and there is a real issue, they shouldn’t stand by the big scoop – they should stand by the truth.”

He added: “The person that needs to come forward is Martin Bashir. He’s the only one that has the answers.”

Former director general Lord Hall, who left the BBC earlier this year, said in a statement to Today that “the focus of the original investigation was whether Diana had been misled”.

He said “this and any new issues raised will no doubt be looked at by the BBC’s new inquiry”.

His comments come after new BBC boss Tim Davie confirmed there would be an independent inquiry into the events.

“The BBC is taking this very seriously and we want to get to the truth,” he said in a statement.

“We are in the process of commissioning a robust and ind ep end en t investigation.”

A Downing Street spokesman said that Mr Davie was right to order an independent investigation.

TAKING A STAND: Matt Wiessler claims he was made a “scapegoat” by the BBC.