Tory backlash over Princess Diana’s landmines campaign ‘prompted her to delay return to UK from Paris before her death’
A CONSERVATIVE backlash against a landmine campaign launched by Princess Diana reportedly caused her to delay returning to Britain before her death.
The fatal decision has been revealed for the first time by a former aide, with them explaining that she decided to stay in Paris longer than she originally planned.
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Princess Diana’s former driver and minder Colin Tebbutt has now claimed that a row over her call for mines to be banned meant that she extended her trip to France with boyfriend Dodi Fayed.
Her decision sparked the chain of events that ended in her dying with Dodi and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, in the horror crash in a tunnel on August 31, 1997.
Diana, 36, originally intended to return to London by August 28, but the last minute decision caused her to extend the trip by three days after the controversial campaign.
Mr Tebbutt claims that she would not have remained in the French capital on the night of her death had it not been for the fallout from Tory politicians.
Speaking to the , Mr Tebbutt said: “She didn't come back on the Thursday as scheduled because the Tories were having a go at her again over landmines.
“She was accused of using the campaign to boost her own image, which was nasty and upset her.
“So she contacted us and said she didn't want all the hassle that would be waiting for her in the UK. She would return at the weekend instead.
“If she had come back that Thursday...maybe we'd all be alive still today.”
Diana had visited Angola the previous January and called for an immediate international ban on landmines - sparking the start of the row.
Conservative defence minister Earl Howe hit out at the Princess, calling her a “loose cannon” who was “ill-informed on the issue of anti-personnel landmines”.
Fellow Tory Peter Viggers then went on to accuse her of ignoring “sophisticated arguments” and debating on the level of French actress Brigitte Bardot in defence of cats.
During her holiday to the Mediterranean with Dodi, 43, in late August 1997, she gave an interview to a French newspaper which ignited the row again.
She was asked about the UK’s policy on abolishing the explosives and reportedly said: “The former one was so hopeless” - referring to the Tory Government which lost power in May 1997.
Diana went on to say that she believed that Tony Blair's new Labour administration was “going to do terrific work”.
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Mr Tebbutt believes that this prompted the further backlash against her which caused her to delay her return to London.
Details of her last phone conversation before she died has come to light, with her friend and journalist Richard Kay.
He said: “She was a little agitated. Her plans had gone awry. She was anxious to get home to see her boys.”