Lord Hall made chairman of Natural History Museum

LORD HALL has been named as chairman of the Natural History Museum in a first big appointment since quitting a previous post over his involvement in the Martin Bashir scandal.

He was appointed as chairman of the National Gallery in 2020, but resigned in 2021 amid severe criticism of his handling of Bashir’s 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.

Lord Hall has now been chosen to take over from Sir Patrick Vallance as chairman of the Natural History Museum. The appointment was made by the board and endorsed by Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, and Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Lord Hall said following the appointment that the Natural History Museum was “one of the great museums of the world”.

The former producer and editor spent decades at the BBC and rose to the position of director-general in 2013. He left the corporation in 2020 and took up a role as chairman of the National Gallery, but swiftly faced pressure to “fall on his sword” after his handling of the disgraced journalist Bashir came to light. In 2021, an independent inquiry led by Lord Dyson found that Bashir used deception to secure his 1995 interview with Diana on Panorama.

This included mocking up bank statements purporting to show payments made to individuals in return for them maintaining surveillance of Diana, which Bashir used to gain the confidence of her brother, Charles Spencer. Lord Hall was director of news when the interview took place and he sent Bashir a congratulatory note saying: “You should be very proud of your scoop.”

In 1996, Lord Hall oversaw an internal investigation into the interview, which found that Bashir’s journalistic approach was “straight and fair”.

These failings led to criticism of the Lord Hall, and following Lord Dyson’s 2021 report he resigned from the National Gallery, saying: “My continuing in the role would be a distraction to an institution I care deeply about.”