The investigative reporter campaigning to discover the truth behind Martin Bashir’s interview with Princess Diana told The Reaction the public is ‘right to be suspicious’ of the BBC.
Andrew Webb joined hosts Sarah Vine and Andrew Pierce to discuss his latest victory in securing 10,000 new pages of BBC correspondence earlier this week discussing the famous 1995 Panorama interview.
However, the vast majority of the documents are heavily redacted, leading to fresh accusations of a cover up at the corporation.
Mr Webb says: ‘It is people very much still at the BBC who were involved in this.
‘Would it be fair, would it be sensible, would it be judicious to be suspicious? Well, I think it would.
‘That is why when one is presented with 10,000 pages of documents which were redacted from top to bottom and side to side, we simply must see what is behind the redaction.’
Today, the Mail revealed that Bashir claimed the investigation into him and how he secured the interview with the then-Princess of Wales was because of his ‘non white background’.
But Pierce argued: ‘It is pitiful, it is pathetic, and it is stupid. It is nothing to do with his colour. Martin Bashir is guilty of some of the worst lies told by a journalist to try secure a scoop that we have come across. He is a disgrace to the BBC and to our profession.’
A story about Bashir using fake bank statements to win the trust of Diana’s inner circle was first reported by The Mail on Sunday in 1996, a year after the interview.
The emails published only came to light thanks to Mr Webb’s campaigning for the last 15 years which began with a Freedom of Information request nearly 1,000 days ago.
Mr Webb told the show: ‘This is to do with a strategy which was dreamt up and enacted in 2020 in order to keep the entire scandal still under wraps as it had been for 25 years.
‘This was something put into play, importantly, by the people who are still running the BBC today. It is those people, who have seen fit to spend, I say, around £250,000 on preventing this material becoming public.
‘It is being spent by, I have often seen it describe itself as the largest news gathering organisation in the world, the very last institution that should be trying to actually stifle the dissemination and publication of very important information.’
Also, in the episode available on YouTube now, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s vow to ban ‘all forms of conversion therapy with an emphasis on trans therapy,’ comes under fire.
Pierce said: ‘My worry is if a teacher has a conversation like this with a child or whether this comes into the home whether a parent has that conversation they are going to be penalised? Because it could happen, and it might happen.’
Also discussed in this week’s episode is the news that Britain’s population is set to exceed 73 million by 2036.
On the 4th anniversary of Britain’s exit from the EU, the hosts debate whether 6.6 million legal migrants predicted to arrive in the next 11 years are doing so because British people are unwilling to do the jobs they will, as Vine argues, or if the country is ‘bursting at the seams’ as Pierce puts it.
Not even TV favourite Alison Hammond, set to take over the late Paul O’Grady ITV show ‘For The Love of Dogs’ ‘escapes unscathed.
With filming due to start imminently, Andrew quips but surely ‘For the Love of God’ we have enough of Hammond on our screens already.
He asks: ‘Was there no one else? She is entertaining and very popular, but you sort of thought about someone who is known for their love of dogs. She is just on quite a lot.’
Vine is not convinced either – but could that be, as the The Reaction hints, because she harbours a secret desire to host the show herself with her eight-year-old Lhasa Apso, Muffin?
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
