PIERS MORGAN TEARS INTO EARL SPENCER OVER DIANA BOOK — ‘HE’S ABOUT AS FAR REMOVED FROM A HISTORIAN AS YOU COULD POSSIBLY BE’
Piers Morgan has launched another furious attack on Earl Spencer, accusing Princess Diana’s brother of getting “basic” facts wrong in his new book and questioning whether his wider recollections can be trusted.
Speaking to ITV Royal Editor Chris Ship, Morgan vehemently denied Spencer’s claim that he was at the helm of the Mirror when intrusive photographs of Diana working out at a gym were published in 1993.
Morgan argued that the error was particularly easy to verify because he did not join the Daily Mirror until the end of 1995 — two years after the controversy surrounding the photographs.
“This is a book that Earl Spencer has done a lot of publicity on, and in those interviews, he said quite clearly he is recording history. He’s a historian,” Morgan said.
“But my belief, based on what he’s written about me, which has turned out to be completely untrue, is that he’s about as far removed from a historian as you could possibly be… when he can’t even get a basic story right involving me within a two-year range? It’s preposterous.”
‘IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ME’
Morgan said he had joined the Mirror after leaving the News of the World, insisting he had no involvement in the publication of the photographs.
“I came from the News of the World… at the end of 1995, two years after the Diana gym pictures furore,” he explained.
The controversy over the images ultimately resulted in the Mirror paying Diana £1 million, Morgan said, but he stressed: “So that happened, but it had nothing to do with me.”
He described the mistake as “the most easily provable inaccuracy imaginable” and said Spencer had since apologised for getting the basic detail wrong.
Morgan claims the error has much wider implications for Spencer’s book, particularly its accounts of conversations surrounding Diana’s death.
MORGAN DENIES BEING ‘SURLY’ ON THE PHONE
Spencer also wrote about allegedly calling tabloid editors after Diana’s death to tell them they were no longer welcome at her funeral.
According to Spencer’s account, Morgan was “surly and annoyed” during the conversation.
Morgan strongly disputes that version.
“It’s an absolute lie to say that I was surly. I could not have been more respectful,” he told ITV.
He said readers could check his own diaries, published in his bestselling book The Insider, where he claims the phone conversation was recorded in detail.
“Go back and read my own best-selling volume of diaries, The Insider, and check the diary entry about this phone call, and you will see how respectful I was to him and to his family,” Morgan said.
He added that he asked Spencer to pass on his condolences to Queen Elizabeth II, whom he said he spoke to regularly, as well as Diana.
Morgan therefore argues that Spencer’s description of the tone of their conversation is another serious error.
‘IS HE TO BE BELIEVED?’
For Morgan, the dispute now extends far beyond his own portrayal in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
He pointed to Spencer’s account of his conversations with the then Prince Charles following Diana’s death, including the earl’s claim that Charles sounded “giddy like a lottery winner”.
Morgan questioned whether a disputed recollection of one phone call should affect how Spencer’s other accounts are viewed.
“What else can we trust in terms of the claims in the book?” he asked.
He also referred to Spencer’s apology over the error involving him, arguing that it demonstrated the account was “completely inaccurate”.
Morgan has said he and his lawyers will take legal action against Spencer and his publishers, seeking to have the disputed material removed from the book.
His latest comments add another layer to the growing fallout surrounding Spencer’s memoir, which has already provoked fierce debate over its claims about Diana, King Charles and the events surrounding her death.
