Paul Burrell has been asked to return to the Princess Diana inquest following claims he withheld information.

A spokesman for the hearing said the former royal butler will be asked to explain discrepancies between his evidence and comments attributed to him in The Sun newspaper.

In a video recording obtained by the newspaper, Mr Burrell apparently said he held back certain facts and introduced "red herrings" during his evidence at the High Court hearing.

Coroner Lord Justice Scott Baker launched an investigation following the publication of the allegations in the newspaper on Monday.

Lawyers acting for Mr Burrell have issued a statement saying the tabloid story was the "result of entrapment".

The interview the allegations were based on was an "insidious" form of questioning, claimed solicitors' firm Walker Smith Way.

The former butler's lawyers said in the statement: "When giving evidence at the inquest, Paul Burrell did not conceal anything remotely relevant to the inquiry into the cause of the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed.

"He held nothing back.

"Whilst under cross-examination Paul Burrell's evidence may at times have strayed from the strictly relevant, he told no untruths and was not in contempt of court.

"Indeed, he tried to assist the court so far as he was able."

According to the Sun, Mr Burrell said in the video footage: "I told the truth as far as I could - but I didn't tell the whole truth. Perjury is not a nice thing to have to contemplate.

"I was very naughty and I made a couple of red herrings, and I couldn't help doing it."

In the tape, which the paper said was recorded in New York, Mr Burrell said he was not willing to reveal the entire details of his conversation with the Queen after Diana's death in a Paris car crash in 1997.

He had previously claimed the Queen warned him about "dark forces" at work.

The former butler's lawyers also said in the statement: "The Sun coverage is incomplete, and the result of entrapment.

"At the time of the secretly recorded conversation described (in part) in the paper, he had been drinking all evening, was tired and depressed.

"He was showing a degree of exaggeration - showing off. He is not proud of this - but was in private, not in court, not on oath.

"He was led on by an insidious form of questioning by a person with extensive media experience.

"He was set up, and took the bait."

Princess Diana, her lover Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul died in a Paris car crash in August 1997.

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