BBC chiefs discussed Bashir’s dodgy past ... then rehired him!
But inquiry finds no evidence he got the job to cover up dirty tricks he used to clinch interview with Diana
PRINCESS Diana’s brother last night vowed to keep seeking justice after a report revealed some BBC chiefs knew Martin Bashir had a dodgy past but rehired him anyway.
The executives were aware the disgraced journalist had faked documents but welcomed him back to the corporation in 2016.
A rival for the job told an internal BBC inquiry there was a perception that Bashir’s rehiring was a ‘done deal from the outset’. But the inquiry by veteran corporation executive Ken MacQuarrie yesterday concluded there was ‘no evidence’ Bashir was rehired to cover up the dirty tricks he used to clinch his Diana Panorama interview.
Last night, Diana’s brother Earl Spencer warned the BBC in a tweet: ‘It won’t end with this, I promise.’ Senior MPs said they were ‘deeply concerned’ and would grill corporation chiefs past and present at a parliamentary hearing today.
The latest fallout from the Bashir scandal comes after last month’s devastating Lord Dyson inquiry, which rocked the BBC by concluding that its once- star journalist had lied and cheated to land his Diana interview in 1995.
Princes William and Harry condemned the deceit and tricks suffered by their mother and the subsequent ‘woeful’ cover-up by BBC managers.
Director- general Tim Davie immediately announced the inquiry into why Bashir had been brought back to the BBC in 2016 as religious affairs correspondent.
Tory MP Julian Knight, chairman of the Commons media committee – which will today interrogate former director-generals Lord Hall and Lord Birt and Mr Davie – said: ‘That the BBC considered rehiring Martin Bashir when there were high-level doubts over his integrity stretches incredulity to breaking point.
‘By this point, as the Dyson report concluded, senior members of the BBC knew that Bashir had lied about the use of faked bank statements to gain access to Princess Diana.
‘What is disturbing is that it appeared the BBC wanted to interview Bashir at the outset, regardless of who else applied for the job. And, not only did they re-employ him, they promoted him.’
Bashir, 58, the outgoing BBC religion editor, is still on the payroll and earning an estimated £2,000 a week, having handed notice in April. in his three- month
There was astonishment in 2016 when he was taken back into the fold at BBC News.
By then, it was known he had faked documents at the BBC. He had also moved to ITV and become the subject of searing accusations by his former BBC colleagues about rogue tactics. The accusations were not investigated by Mr MacQuarrie.
The BBC executive did find that Bashir’s document-faking and his controversial career in the US were known to two of the managers interviewing him for the religious affairs job – news chief James Harding and head of newsgathering Jonathan Munro. Mr MacQuarrie said Mr Munro also had ‘some recollection’ of the controversy surrounding the Diana interview. ‘Jonathan Munro was told that Martin Bashir had faked documents,’ Mr MacQuarrie said. Mr Munro raised the matter with Mr Harding, his superior. Mr Harding could ‘not recall’ having any prior knowledge of the Panorama controversy, said Mr MacQuarrie, but he added it was ‘clear from the contemporaneous documents’ that it had been ‘brought to his attention by Jonathan Munro’. Bashir was back in Britain after being suspended by broadcaster ABC in 2008 for a crude ‘Asian babes’ after- dinner comment speech, during and then an resigned from MSNBC for an offensive remark about politician Sarah Palin in 2013. Mr Munro decided the first remark was a ‘misjudged joke’ and the second could also be disregarded because Bashir was not being hired to cover US politics. Mr Munro said he had discussed the matters with Mr Harding, who could ‘not recall’ this. The BBC interviewed eight internal before affairs this candidates process job, but for was a the month over, religious Bashir was having a coffee with Mr Munro on June 23 – two months before the job was advertised externally, on August 30. On August 8, he had a coffee with Mr Harding. Last night Mr Harding said he was in charge at the time and ‘the responsibility sits with me’, but added: ‘Today’s report shows we chose the person we thought was the best candidate. As the report concludes, we didn’t know then what we know now.’
‘It won’t end with this, I promise’