In his famous interview with Princess Diana, he was the epitome of sympathy and tact.

But those qualities were conspicuously absent when Martin Bashir addressed a group of American journalists at a prestigious banquet.

During a speech that was supposed to champion the cause of minority groups, he stunned his audience by referring to them as 'Asian babes'.

News stars: Martin Bashir with his ABC co-anchor Cynthia McFadden

He went one worse by saying he was glad the podium was covering the lower half of his body.

He then made inappropriate sexual comments about the length of a colleague's dress.

As a result of the resulting furore, Bashir has now made a grovelling apology for the lewd comments, which he made in an address to the Asian American Journalists' Association.

The 45-year- old TV journalist was poached by U.S. broadcaster ABC from ITV with a £500,000-a-year deal in 2004.

Unamused: ABC presenter Juju Chang was targeted by Bashir

After working on ABC's 20/20 current affairs show he was promoted to the role of co-anchor on the popular Nightline programme  -  the network's equivalent of BBC's Newsnight.

One of his colleagues at ABC is Emmy Award-winning correspondent Juju Chang, who had the misfortune of being present at the AAJA gala scholarship and awards banquet in Chicago last week when Bashir made his speech.

After observing that he'd 'never been around so many Asian babes in my life' he turned his attention to Miss Chang's dress, telling the audience that, like a good speech, it was 'long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep you interested'.

An exasperated Miss Chang responded: 'See what I have to put up with?' She later described the comments as a 'ridiculous joke' and added: 'He has since apologised to me for his boorishness.'

Bashir's behaviour prompted ABC to release a statement publicly condemning the remarks.

Channel spokesman Jerry Scheider said: 'This kind of remark has no place in any setting and Martin knows that and is truly sorry for his serious error in judgment.'

Bashir has now also written to the journalists' association apologising for the 'tasteless remarks' he made at the event and describing his behaviour as a 'moment of stupidity'.

The speech was meant to tackle the issue of cultural identity and how differences in race and ethnicity should be seen as an asset not an obstacle in the industry.

The president of the AAJA, Jeanne Mariani-Belding, said yesterday: 'I appreciate the point he was trying to make. But could his speech have been in better taste? I would say so.'

Born in South London in 1963 to Pakistani migrants, Bashir now lives in New York with his wife Debbie and their two children.

He became a household name in 1995 by interviewing Princess Diana. The princess spoke candidly about her battle with bulimia, her affair with James Hewitt and her failing marriage to Prince Charles.

The programme was watched by more than 22million viewers and was nominated for a Bafta.

He has also interviewed Michael Jackson and Louise Woodward, the British au pair convicted of the manslaughter of a baby she was caring for in the U.S.

In June, Bashir revealed he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour but vowed to 'get on with his life'.

It is understood that he does not need surgery or treatment at this stage because the tumour is not affecting his well-being, but the situation will need to be monitored.