RICHARD SHARP QUITS AS BBC CHAIR AFTER CONTROVERSY INVOLVING LOAN DEAL FOR FORMER PM JOHNSON

Fri 28 Apr 2023:

Richard Sharp has resigned as BBC chair after an official report found he breached the rules for public appointments. He said he was quitting to “prioritise the interests” of the broadcaster after the report by Adam Heppinstall was published.

Barrister Adam Heppinstall was appointed by the Commissioner of Public Appointments to investigate the claims which had first appeared in the Sunday Times, says the BBC.

Confirming his resignation, Sharp said the report, which was published on Friday, found “that while I did breach the governance code for public appointments, he states that a breach does not necessarily invalidate an appointment”.

He said the report finds he did not play “any part whatsoever in the facilitation, arrangement, or financing of a loan for the former Prime Minister”.

Sharp, a former Conservative party donor, was appointed in 2021. It subsequently emerged he had failed to disclose during the application process that he had helped an acquaintance seeking to offer a secret £800,000 personal loan guarantee for Johnson.

MPs had criticised Sharp for “significant errors of judgment” in failing to declare the potential conflict of interest, and the commissioner for public appointments launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding him getting the job.

Sources told the Guardian last week the report was expected to be “very uncomfortable” for Sharp, potentially placing his future as BBC chair in doubt.

In February, Sharp faced an often uncomfortable grilling by MPs on the culture, media and sport committee, at which he revealed that he personally informed Johnson and Rishi Sunak that he wanted the job before he applied.

In response to his resignation, the BBC board said: “We accept and understand Richard’s decision to stand down. We want to put on record our thanks to Richard, who has been a valued and respected colleague, and a very effective chairman of the BBC.

“The BBC board believes that Richard Sharp is a person of integrity.”

The board added that Sharp had a been a “real advocate for the BBC, its mission, and why the corporation is a priceless asset for the country, at home and abroad”.

Richard Sharp quits as BBC chair after report finds ‘potential perceived conflict of interest’ over Boris Johnson loan help.

Sharp insists breach of appointment rules was ‘inadvertent’ but resigns to ‘prioritise the interests’ of the broadcaster.#BBC #RichardSharp pic.twitter.com/5ABRC7Y1PV

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) April 28, 2023

Here’s Sharp’s full resignation statement:

I would like to thank Adam Heppinstall and his team for the diligence and professionalism they have shown in compiling today’s report.

Mr Heppinstall’s view is that while I did breach the governance code for public appointments, he states that a breach does not necessarily invalidate an appointment.

Indeed, I have always maintained the breach was inadvertent and not material, which the facts he lays out substantiate. The secretary of state has consulted with the BBC Board who support that view.

Nevertheless, I have decided that it is right to prioritise the interests of the BBC. I feel that this matter may well be a distraction from the corporation’s good work were I to remain in post until the end of my term.

I have, therefore, this morning resigned as BBC chair to the secretary of state, and to the board.

It was proposed to me that I stay on as chair until the end of June while the process to appoint my successor is undertaken, and I will of course do that in the interests of the corporation’s stability and continuity.

Let me turn to the events that are the subject of today’s report.

When I sought in December 2020 to introduce the cabinet secretary to Mr (Sam) Blyth I did so in good faith. I did so with the best of intentions.

And I did so with the sole purpose of ensuring that all relevant rules were being followed.

I am pleased that Mr Heppinstall supports the fact that my involvement in these matters was accordingly “very limited”.

He states that he is “happy to record” that he has seen no evidence – and nor could he – to say I played any part whatsoever in the facilitation, arrangement, or financing of a loan for the former prime minister.

During my conversation with the cabinet secretary on 4 December 2020, I reminded him of the fact that I was in the BBC appointments process.

I believed, as a result of that conversation, that I had been removed from any conflict or perception of conflict. I understood this recusal to be absolute.

This was my error. In my subsequent interview with the appointments panel I wish, with the benefit of hindsight, this potential perceived conflict of interest was something I had considered to mention.

I would like once again to apologise for that oversight – inadvertent though it was – and for the distraction these events have caused the BBC.

For more than 20 years, I have devoted time and energy to public service, whether at the Institute for Cancer Research, at the Royal Academy of Arts, on the financial policy committee of the Bank of England, or as an economic advisor to the Treasury working to protect British business, including the creative industries, during the pandemic.

For more than two years, I have seen the beating heart of the BBC up close. And for all its complexities, successes, and occasional failings, the BBC is an incredible, dynamic, and world beating creative force, unmatched anywhere.

As chair, I have acted at all times in the public interest, and for the betterment of the BBC. I am proud to have fought for the recent return of government funding for the World Service. I have been active in commissioning independent thematic reviews of BBC coverage on touchstone issues.

And I have championed the importance of the BBC as a well-funded and impartial public service broadcaster.

To chair this incredible organisation has been an honour. The BBC’s contribution to our national life is immense, its people are hardworking and brilliant, and preserving and enhancing it matters.