Martin Bashir must pay the £750,000 compo the BBC has agreed to the Diana fall guy. I don’t want to.

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It was a throwaway story in the Telegraph. The article said that Matt Weissler, a graphic artist, was to receive £750,000 (yes £750K) from the BBC for being blacklisted by the corporation for revealing how Martin Bashir got the Princess Diana interview.

I don’t know about you but I think £750,000 is a hell of a lot of money and more importantly it is OUR money. The BBC haven’t got any money, it all comes from the £159 licence fee and if we don’t pay we got to jail. Ridiculous in this world but neither political party want to change it.

Although it’s 25 years ago now the facts are clear.

Martin Bashir, a ho hum reporter on the Panorama programme, began to woo Diana’s brother. Earl Spencer, so that he could land the interview.

What he did was certainly fraudulent and possibly criminal. He got Mr Weissler to put together bank statements showing that journalists  were paying Spencer employees to supply information about Diana.

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The object was to show a) that Bashir was on the side of Spencer and Diana and b) that he could be trusted if Spencer put in a good word for him with Diana about a possible interview.

It worked. Bashir got the interview and Diana came up with the phrase; “There were three of this in this this marriage”- a reference to Camilla.

The BBC found out about the faked bank statements and instead of sacking Bashir, instead of disciplining Steve Hewlett the Panorama editor, they told Weissler than he would never work for them again and effectively banished him from building.

For decades Mr Weissler has fought for justice and now he has received it in the shape of £750,000 compensation.

But why should we pay?  Shouldn’t the money come out of Bashir’s pocket after all he was instigator of the crime. He has an expensive house with plenty of equity in it.
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I don’t want to pay and I suspect neither do you.

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