Why Speaker of the Commons was called ‘loony’ over claims of UK spy link to Diana death
COMMONS Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was called a ‘publicity-mad loony’ by No 10 officials after asking Tony Blair to comment on whether British security services were involved in Princess Diana’s death.
The then Labour backbencher wrote to the prime minister in the summer of 1998 demanding he put an end to the ‘mystery’ surrounding her death the previous August.
Aides drafted a reply from Mr Blair describing the claims as ‘ridiculous and deeply distressing for the bereaved families’, according to declassified files released today by the National Archives in Kew.
But they reasoned that the then Mr Hoyle planned to pass any written response to journalists, thereby stoking conspiracy theories about her death.
There was misplaced speculation at the time of Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris alongside her lover Dodi Fayed that British intelligence had been involved.
In his letter to Mr Blair, Mr Hoyle said he had attempted to table a ‘number of written parliamentary questions to you concerning the mystery surrounding the death. However, these were refused ... as they were deemed to be national security issues to which I am not entitled to an answer’.
He then asked Mr Blair to make a statement to ‘clear up some of the secrecy and controversies surrounding her death’. ‘There has been an enormous amount of
‘Ridiculous and distressing’
speculation on recent television documentaries stating that, somehow, British security forces may have been involved in the death of Diana,’ he added. ‘Making a statement... would answer many of these questions and put an end to rumours and uncertainty.’
Mr Hoyle had only been elected as Labour MP for Chorley in 1997, but had already attracted headlines after calling for a national children’s hospital to be built as a memorial to Diana, and for Heathrow to be renamed Diana, Princess of Wales Airport.
The files reveal he had previously written to the prime minister asking if there were any British security agents ‘on duty’ in Paris on the night of Princess Diana’s death.
In a draft reply to Mr Hoyle marked ‘personal’, Mr Blair said it would be ‘inappropriate’ for him to make any sort of statement that might prejudge the French investigation into the crash. He added: ‘As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have been saying for months, any suggestion that any British official organisation or department had anything to do with this tragic event is both ridiculous and deeply distressing for the bereaved families.’
An accompanying note from John Grant, the principal private secretary, said: ‘Mr Hoyle is likely to relay whatever he receives to the media.
‘Our news department believe that a written statement coming “out of the blue” could end up giving the story a fresh wind and encourage the press to recycle all the conspiracy theories... before printing the Prime Minister’s denials. Their preference would be to avoid putting anything in writing if we can.’
But Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair’s chief of staff, said that was ‘daft’, adding ‘much better to put this in writing clearly and dismissively’. A reply from another No10 official stated: ‘But we have to reply + I don’t really see he can do much with this. Lindsay Hoyle is [a] publicity-mad loony.’ The files also show that Diana’s brother Charles Spencer wrote to Mr Blair – who had called her ‘the people’s princess’ – to thank him ‘for appreciating, when others scoffed at her, what a positive force she was in people’s lives’.
■ Tory leader William Hague urged Tony Blair to delay the referendum on Scottish devolution following Diana’s death.
The vote, which led to the creation of the Scottish Parliament, was due on September 11, 1997. But when it was announced that Diana’s funeral would be on September 6, Mr Hague appealed for a postponement.
‘The referendum campaigns will effectively close down, and only three days will then remain for the Scottish campaign. This cannot, in any respects, be regarded as satisfactory,’ he wrote. Mr Blair rejected the idea, telling him there were ‘serious practical difficulties’ – but admitting in a note to an official: ‘The real argument is that we simply do not want to change the date of the referendum.’