BBC chairman Richard Sharp resigns after report into his appointment

The resignation came after a report found he did not disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest during his appointment. It looked at whether he was transparent about facilitating a loan to Boris Johnson.

28 APR 2023
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Richard Sharp

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As the company confirmed today, BBC chairman Richard Sharp has resigned after a report found he did not disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest during his appointment. It looked at whether he was transparent about his role in facilitating a loan to Boris Johnson. Mr. Sharp apologized, saying he did not want to be a distraction for the BBC. The chairman, who the then-prime minister appointed, has been under pressure to quit since claims about his involvement emerged in January.

They prompted an investigation led by barrister Adam Heppinstall which was published on Friday. Mr. Sharp arranged a meeting between Cabinet Secretary Simon Case and Sam Blyth, a distant cousin of Mr. Johnson and a businessman who had offered to support the PM financially in late 2020. The meeting did not subsequently take place, the report found. The ex-investment banker and Conservative Party donor had already applied for the senior BBC job when he approached Mr. Case.

The report found that he had failed to disclose two potential perceived conflicts of interest: first, by telling Mr. Johnson he wanted to apply for the BBC role before doing so, and second, by telling the PM he intended to set up a meeting between Mr. Case, the country's most senior civil servant, and Mr. Blyth. It notes that Mr. Sharp does not accept the first conclusion but has apologized for the second. Sharp called the breach of public appointment rules "inadvertent and not material."

The Commissioner of Public Appointments set up the investigation to investigate claims which first appeared in the Sunday Times. The report found "there is a risk of a perception that Sharp was recommended for appointment" because he sought to assist the PM in a private financial matter "and/or that he influenced the former prime minister to recommend him by informing him of his application before he submitted it." The report did not judge "on whether Sharp had any intention of seeking to influence the former Prime Minister in this manner."
Sharp has previously insisted he believed flagging his BBC application with Case and agreeing to have no further involvement in any loan discussions resolved any conflict of interest issues. Therefore they did not need additional disclosure, but the report disagreed with his position.

He said he did not play "any part whatsoever in the facilitation, arrangement, or financing of a loan for the former prime minister" but that he was quitting in order to "prioritize the interests of the BBC." But he said, with hindsight, he should have disclosed his role in setting up a meeting between Case and Blyth to the appointments panel during the scrutiny process ahead of him taking up the senior position. He said not doing so was an "oversight" and apologized for it.

The BBC chair can only be appointed or sacked by the government. The BBC director general, the executive who has ultimate editorial control over the corporation, does not have the power to remove them. Sharp's position came under further scrutiny in March following Gary Lineker's suspension over a tweet criticizing government asylum policy, a decision which triggered a wider row about BBC's impartiality. Critics of the BBC's handling of the issue contrasted Lineker's suspension with how allegations against Sharp were dealt with, pointing out that the chairman could remain in post despite ongoing investigations.

Responding to the resignation, the BBC's former controller of editorial policy, Richard Ayre, said the matter came down to "the integrity and transparency" of Sharp's application and that he "had to go. Meaningfully or not, he had done a favor [for Mr Johnson]. He didn't declare that to the assessment panel." Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC, said Sharp had made a "significant contribution to the transformation and success of the BBC."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had not seen the report into Sharp and did not guarantee a non-political figure would replace him. Speaking to reporters in Glasgow, Sunak said: "There's an appointments process that happens for those appointments, and I'm not going to prejudge that." He will remain in post until a successor is appointed in June.