Princess Diana's brother Earl Spencer urges incoming BBC boss to end 'conspiracy of silence' over Martin Bashir scandal

By CLAUDIA JOSEPH and MARK HOOKHAM, ASSISTANT EDITOR (INVESTIGATIONS) Published: 22:00, 9 May 2026 | Updated: 22:00, 9 May 2026 Princess Diana's brother has urged incoming BBC boss Matt Brittin to 'lance the boil' and shatter the 'conspiracy of silence' over the Martin Bashir scandal. Earl Spencer called on the corporation to appoint an official historian and task him or her with poring over every document related to the deception used by the rogue reporter to land his infamous 1995 Panorama interview with Diana – and the BBC's subsequent cover-up. He also renewed his call for Scotland Yard to investigate any revelations of criminality. Bashir showed Earl Spencer forged bank statements to gain access to Diana and then tricked her by peddling a string of lies, including that Prince William's watch had been bugged to record her conversations. Earl Spencer discussed the scandal at the Althorp Literary Festival, held on his estate in Northamptonshire, with investigative journalist Andy Webb, who wrote a book about Bashir's deception and the BBC's years-long cover-up. He backed calls by Webb for the BBC to reinstate its official historian, a position that appears to have been vacant for more than a decade.  The BBC's official written history, which is detailed across six volumes, is believed to stop in 1987. Webb fought to obtain more than 10,000 documents from the corporation, albeit with more than 3,000 redactions, but the author believes there is more evidence which is yet to be revealed. The Panorama interview was hailed at the time as the scoop of a generation Diana didn't shy away from Bashir's hard-hitting questions, going against the Palace's unspoken rule about remaining quiet Princess Diana's younger brother Earl Spencer (pictured) has called on the BBC to appoint an official historian and task him or her with poring over every document related to the deception used by the rogue reporter to land his infamous 1995 Panorama interview with Diana Earl Spencer said on Saturday: 'I endorse what Andy said. I do think to get the official historian back would be a very good idea. 'I think actually to lance the boil and over time the conspiracy of silence and just brush this all out once and for all. And for the police, to act on what is flushed out.' He described Bashir as a 'compulsive liar', adding: 'I wouldn't really want to give him the time of day is the honest truth.' He branded Bashir's interview 'the worst piece of journalism I've seen' and said there were 'five suspects' with senior jobs in the BBC who, he claimed, oversaw the cover-up of the scandal. Meanwhile, Webb revealed that William was among the first readers of his book, Dianarama, when it was published last year. He said: 'It was made very clear to me that this does matter, very much, to Prince William, very much indeed. He read almost the first copy of the book off the press and of course it would matter.' The comments below have been moderated in advance. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.