Blair ‘held secret talks with Diana’

By Gary Cleland

Diana, Princess of Wales, secretly met Tony Blair to discuss her becoming a global ambassador for Britain, it was claimed last night.

Details of the meetings, which are said to have begun before Mr Blair became prime minister in 1997 and continued when he took office, are due to be revealed in a new book by Alastair Campbell.

The former Labour spin doctor, whose book The Blair Years is to be published on Monday, is said to give details of how the encounters were kept secret to avoid accusations that the princess was interfering in party politics.

Very few people knew of the meetings, but the Queen was apparently informed by Mr Blair to ensure future relations with the monarch were not damaged.

Mr Blair is said to have seen Diana as a worldwide ambassador for Britain and she was said to be taken with the idea and also apparently enjoyed the secrecy of the meetings. The princess was said to have been interested in performing a role for Britain overseas, just before her death in 1997.

She met Robin Cook, the foreign secretary, and Clare Short, the international development secretary, over the plan to outlaw anti-personnel mines.

Mr Cook paid tribute to her in the House of Commons when a ban on the weapons was passed in 1998.

A source, who claims to have seen Mr Campbell’s diaries, told the Daily Mirror: “Campbell’s diaries tell how Blair and Diana always held their private meetings away from Westminster.

“It’s pretty clear they were discussing some kind of new role for her.

“He thought that she could do a brilliant job as a kind of ambassador abroad for his vision of a modern Britain.

“The princess was intrigued by the idea.

“She liked the image of the country Blair wanted to project and thought that she could make a contribution.

“Diana was very excited about it.”

RSS TrackBack URL

Translate: