Martin Bashir quits BBC amid 1985 Princess Diana Panorama interview probe

Martin Bashir has quit the BBC for health reasons as an investigation continues into how he obtained his famous 1995 Panorama interview with Princess Diana.

The 58-year-old former star reporter at the corporation, who has been on sick leave for months, was rehired by the BBC in 2016 as its religious affairs correspondent.

Mr Bashir allegedly peddled a series of lies and smears designed to lure Diana into his trust, two years before the Princess of Wales died in a car crash in Paris.

But in recent months he has been seriously ill with Covid-19 related complications. 

News of his departure was announced by Jonathan Munro, the BBC’s deputy director of news, in a message to staff which told of the reporter’s ‘ongoing’ health issues.

Mr Munro said today: ‘Martin Bashir has stepped down from his position as the BBC’s religion editor, and is leaving the corporation.

‘He let us know of his decision last month, just before being readmitted to hospital for another surgical procedure on his heart.

‘Although he underwent major surgery toward the end of last year, he is facing some ongoing issues and has decided to focus on his health. We wish him a complete and speedy recovery.’

Mr Bashir began working as a journalist in 1986 but made headlines around the world in 1995 for his interview with Diana for Panorama.

Diana’s brother Earl Spencer has alleged Mr Bashir showed him fake financial documents and told untrue stories about the royal family to gain access to his sister.

Last November the BBC commissioned former Supreme Court judge Lord Dyson to probe allegations that the corporation covered up the trail of deceit by its reporter. 

The former master of the rolls will lead an investigation to discover what steps the BBC and Mr Bashir took to land the interview.

The BBC is also set to broadcast a Panorama investigation – into itself – which is expected to uncover dramatic failings by former corporation chiefs. 

Former BBC director-general Lord Hall led a 1996 internal BBC investigation into the circumstances surrounding Diana’s appearance, which sent shockwaves through the royal family with her revelations about the state of her marriage.

The BBC has previously said that during an internal corporation investigation in 1996, Mr Bashir admitted commissioning mocked-up bank documents.

They had been shown to Earl Spencer, but he said they had played no part in securing the princess’s appearance on Panorama.

In March, Scotland Yard said it would not launch a criminal probe into the interview after an former employee of Earl Spencer made a formal complaint to the force.

A legal representative of Alan Waller, who used to work for Diana’s brother Earl Spencer as head of security, had written to the Met alleging unlawful activity.

Earl Spencer went public with allegations that Mr Bashir told an extraordinary series of lies to win Diana’s trust and get her to agree to take part in the programme.

Citing notes taken at meetings where Mr Bashir sought to persuade Diana to give an interview, Earl Spencer alleged that he told 32 lies.

These included that his sister’s phone was being tapped and that Prince Charles was in love with her sons’ nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke.

Diana agreed to the interview, which was watched by almost 23million people on November 20, 1995. 

In it, she famously said ‘There were three of us in this marriage’, referring to Charles’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles, and admitted her affair with James Hewitt. 

Mr Bashir was later employed by ITV and worked on Tonight With Trevor McDonald, including a fly-on-the-wall documentary on Michael Jackson.

Earlier this month, The Mail On Sunday revealed Mr Bashir had a new £1.7million six-bedroom home in Hampshire and a £66,000 Mercedes-Benz EQC 400.

The father-of-three moved to the leafy county after selling his large North London townhouse to Lucy Litwack, owner of the Coco de Mer lingerie firm, for £1.8million.