Keir Starmer has said Labour would make sure the BBC chair is independently appointed after Richard Sharp’s resignation following his failure to declare that he had helped Boris Johnson get a loan.
The Labour leader suggested the party would reform the system, in which the prime minister currently has the final say on who gets the job.
Starmer told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that a process independent of government was needed, to protect the appointment from “sleaze” and “contamination”.
“We would have an independent process, look at what that process looks like, to make sure those sort of mistakes, those sort of associations wouldn’t be possible under a Labour government,” he said.
The role is currently decided through an open competition of candidates who are interviewed by an advisory panel, but the prime minister ultimately has the final say.
Sharp resigned on Friday to “prioritise the interests of the BBC” after a report by the barrister Adam Heppinstall found he had failed to properly disclose his role in facilitating a loan guarantee for Johnson of up to £800,000 from the businessman Sam Blyth, a distant relation of the former prime minister.
Since then, Labour has been pressing the government to depoliticise the appointment of the job. However, Starmer’s comments appear to be the first time he has explicitly confirmed that a government he led would make the process independent.
Government insiders had previously hit back by pointing out that Labour had also appointed political figures while in power. “It wasn’t so long ago Labour was accused of appointing a Labour crony as BBC chair, so it’s a little pot-kettle-black,” said one person inside the government.
“Ultimately, the BBC receives vast sums of public funding, and as long as that continues there must be democratic accountability.”
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, said on Friday the BBC had to be accountable to the government given its receipt of public money.
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After the Heppinstall report, Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, said: “This breach has caused untold damage to the reputation of the BBC and seriously undermined its independence as a result of the Conservatives’ sleaze and cronyism.
“This comes after 13 years of the Tories doing everything they can to defend themselves and their mates. From Owen Paterson to Dominic Raab, and now Richard Sharp, instead of doing what’s best for the country the prime minister was more interested in defending his old banking boss. The prime minister should have sacked him weeks ago. Instead it took this investigation, called by Labour, to make him resign.
“Rishi Sunak should urgently establish a truly independent and robust process to replace Sharp to help restore the esteem of the BBC after his government has tarnished it so much.”
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