The BBC should take “every possible step” to ensure that nothing like its deceit of the Princess of Wales to secure an interview ever happens again, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.
The PM said he was “very concerned” after an inquiry found Martin Bashir faked documents for his 1995 interview.
The Duke of Cambridge said the deception fuelled his mother’s paranoia and worsened his parents’ relationship.
The BBC said it had made fundamental changes in governance since the 1990s.
Mr Johnson said he was grateful to retired judge Lord Dyson for carrying out the inquiry, which found the BBC covered up “deceitful behaviour” by Bashir to secure the headline-making interview.
“I can only imagine the feelings of the Royal Family and I hope very much that the BBC will be taking every possible step to make sure nothing like this ever happens again,” he said.
The Met Police said it will assess the new report “to ensure there is no significant new evidence”, after previously deciding against a criminal investigation.
The Panorama interview featured Princess Diana giving an extraordinarily frank account of her marriage to the Prince of Wales, famously saying “there were three of us in this marriage” – a reference to her husband’s affair with the future Duchess of Cornwall and admitting to an affair of her own.
After ministers suggested that the broadcaster’s governance may need to be changed, the corporation said there had been two substantial changes to how it is overseen since the time of the interview but “there is much to reflect on”.
It defended rehiring Bashir as religion editor in 2016, when questions had already been asked about his conduct, saying the post was filled after a competitive interview process. Bashir has since resigned without a pay-off.
The BBC has said it would review Bashir’s other work “where evidence is made available”.
James Harding, who was the director of BBC News when Bashir was rehired, said that he had not known the journalist had forged bank statements and, had he known, “he wouldn’t have got the job”.
Asked about whether he had consulted then BBC director general Lord Hall about the reappointment, Mr Harding did not answer directly but said he took responsibility for Bashir’s rehiring.