By Amit Roy
THIS is not being written in defence of Martin Bashir, 57, the BBC’s religion correspondent, who secured “that interview” with Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1995.
It is alleged that he used forged bank statements to convince Diana, through her brother Charles, the ninth Earl Spencer, that her staff were being paid by the intelligence services to spy on her.
Charles, who is leading the charge against Bashir, has himself been accused of “hypocrisy” because he allegedly refused to provide shelter to Diana in 1996 when his distressed sister sought his help.
It is worth recalling that three years before Diana gave her interview to Bashir, she collaborated with author Andrew Morton and sensationally revealed all was not well with her marriage in his book, Diana: Her True Story. No one has accused Morton or indeed Charles Spencer of somehow being responsible for Diana’s mental decline, as Bashir has been. His big crime was probably to beat Fleet Street royal hacks to a scoop.
This is not an attempt to defend Bashir. But it’s worth asking a question: would he attract quite as much hatred if he wasn’t of Pakistani origin?
My own feeling is that Diana should now be allowed to rest in peace.
Sunder Katwala
