Recount ?

It may run longer than the US Presidential Election. The claims by Earl Spencer that BBC reporter Martin Bashir systematically misled him and his sister Diana, in order to secure the Panorama interview of 1995 won't go away. Grandees are calling on BBC DG Tim Davie to set up an independent investigation. Richard Kay, the Mail's long-serving Royal watcher, was among those apparently smeared by Bashir, and won't let it lie. Even BBC Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond has contributed a piece to BBC Radio bulletins. 

The only investigation into the matter was conducted by Lord Hall, then just Tony, as Director of News, in 1996. 

So that you can keep up with the dramatis personae, we mentioned yesterday graphic artist Matthias 'Matt' Wiessler, who 'reconstructed' bank statements to Martin Bashir's instructions. After the Diana interview went out, Matt took his concerns to current affairs managers Tim Gardam and Tim Suter. Tim is currently Director of the Nuffield Trust; he left the BBC to become Director of Programmes at Channel 4, then ran St Anne's College Oxford and was on the board of Ofcom for six years. Tim Suter is now Chairman of the Content Board at Ofcom and Chair of the Intellectual Property Office.