Richard Sharp has resigned as BBC chair after it was concluded he breached the rules on public appointments by failing to declare his connection to a secret £800,000 loan made to Boris Johnson.
Sharp tendered his resignation on Friday morning after concluding his continued presence “may well be a distraction from the corporation’s good work”.
He said the commissioner on public appointments concluded he broke the rules by failing to declare his link to the loan, but a breach “does not necessarily invalidate an appointment”. Despite this, Sharp said, he had concluded his position was no longer tenable and he would step down early in June, enabling a successor to be appointed by the government.
Earlier this year, the Sunday Times revealed that Sharp had secretly helped an acquaintance, Sam Blyth, who wanted to offer an £800,000 personal loan guarantee for Johnson. The prime minister’s personal finances were in poor shape while he was in Downing Street with his new wife, Carrie, and baby son, and was going through an expensive divorce.
It is still not known who ultimately provided Johnson with the loan, which only became public after he left office.
MPs had already criticised Sharp, a financier and Tory donor, for “significant errors of judgment” in failing to declare the potential conflict of interest.
Sharp told MPs that Blyth was attending a private dinner at his house in September 2020 when the Canadian businessman said he had read reports that Johnson was in “some difficulties” and that he wanted to help. Sharp said he warned him about the ethical complexities of this.
At the time, Sharp was working in Downing Street on Covid projects, and told Johnson and Sunak of his aim to be BBC chair. He told the the culture, media and sport committee in February: “I communicated to the prime minister and to the chancellor that I wished to apply and submitted my application in November.”
The government will now be able to select a new BBC chair on a four-year term, depriving a potential Labour government of making their own appointment until mid-2027.
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