Questions remain as BBC chair Richard Sharp resigns over rule breach

Rishi Sunak must now head up the task of replacing Mr Sharp, but should that really be his decision? Anushka Asthana reports

Richard Sharp has resigned from his role as BBC chairman, after an investigation found he breached the governance code for public appointments.

An independent report, carried out by barrister Adam Heppinstall KC, scrutinised the appointment of Mr Sharp to the influential role, after he helped facilitate a loan guarantee for the former prime minister, Boris Johnson.

The investigation found Mr Sharp, a former Conservative Party donor, "failed to disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest" to a panel of interviewers, risking the perception that he was given the job because he "assisted" Mr Johnson in a personal financial matter.

The failure to disclose, the report concluded, created the risk that Mr Sharp, and indeed the BBC, could be viewed as not fully independent from Downing Street.

Mr Johnson “himself was conflicted” in the process, according to former commissioner for public appointments Sir Peter Riddell, who also said questions remain about the loan made to him.

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Mr Sharp said on Friday he felt the issue had become a "distraction" from the corporation's "good work", and confirmed he will stand down at the end of June.

He maintained any breaches of the rules were "inadvertent and not material".

Sir Peter, who was the commissioner for public appointment when Mr Sharp took on the BBC role, said Mr Johnson’s role “hasn’t really been discussed enough” because it was outside the remit of the inquiry.

“He (Mr Johnson) himself was conflicted… Should he have recused himself from the appointment given he knew about Richard Sharp helping him out on this loan?” he told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme.

“Big questions remain” about “conflicts involving Boris Johnson’s role and about who made the loan to him,” Sir Peter also wrote on Twitter.

The report into Mr Sharp's appointment was requested in January by shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell after it emerged the BBC chairman had introduced his friend Sam Blyth, a cousin of Mr Johnson, to the Cabinet Office, with the knowledge he wanted to help the then prime minister with his financial troubles.

This took place before Mr Sharp was recommended for the top BBC role and later appointed by Mr Johnson in 2021.

Sir Peter also noted the “curiously murky” exchanges between Mr Sharp and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, and questioned whether the Cabinet Office should have told colleagues in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport scrutinising Mr Sharp’s appointment about “what was happening with the private finances”.

In his resignation statement, Mr Sharp said: "Indeed, I have always maintained the breach was inadvertent and not material, which the facts [Mr Heppinstall] 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 the BBC chair to the Secretary of State and to the board."

View Richard Sharp's resignation statement in full

When questioned by MPs in February, Mr Sharp was told he made "significant errors of judgement" when he acted as a go-between for Mr Johnson's loan.

A cross-party committee was furious that Mr Sharp failed to declare to MPs his role in the exchange, insisting he should “consider the impact his omissions will have” on trust in the broadcaster.

Mr Sharp insisted he did not arrange the loan but admitted introducing his friend to the Cabinet Office, something the report acknowledges when stating he assisted "to the very limited extent" of making an introduction.

BBC director-general Tim Davie thanked Mr Sharp for his service, and the "drive and intellect" he brought to the BBC.

"The focus for all of us at the BBC is continuing the hard work to ensure we deliver for audiences, both now and in the future," he added.

'Did Mr Sharp help you with your loan?' Boris Johnson is questioned by broadcasters as he leaves his home in London ahead of the report's publication

In a letter to Mr Sharp, Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said he is held in "high regard" by the BBC board, with his decision to step down signaling his "commitment" to public service. Mr Frazer thanked Mr Sharp for his service during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Labour's Ms Powell, who requested the investigation, said Mr Sharp's breach "has caused untold damage to the reputation of the BBC and seriously undermined its independence".

"This comes after 13 years of the Tories doing everything they can to defend themselves and their mates," Ms Powell said, adding: "Rishi Sunak should urgently establish a truly independent and robust process to replace Sharp, to help restore some trust in the BBC after his government has tarnished it so much."

BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker also commented on Mr Sharp's resignation, tweeting: "The BBC chairman should not be selected by the government of the day. Not now, not ever."

The football pundit's commentary comes after he was temporarily taken off air by the broadcaster, after posting a tweet critical of government policy that reignited the row over BBC impartiality.

It increased pressure on Mr Sharp, who was undergoing investigation, to resign from the corporation as it came under growing scrutiny for its alleged links to Downing Street.

'Prime Minister, why did you not sack him months ago?' Rishi Sunak is asked by journalists why he didn't fire Richard Sharp when the reports first emerged

Speaking to ITV News, former BBC newsreader Simon McCoy asked: "Why has it taken so long?"

He added: "He knew then what he knows now, which is that he was in breach, technically, of the terms of his appointment, so in that process he has been missing in action during what has been a huge crisis for the BBC, sparked by the tweet from Gary Lineker, and he just wasn't around at a time when a BBC chairman should have been."

Mr Sharp's resignation on Friday morning saved Mr Sunak from having to decide whether or not to sack him, given the prime minister is ultimately in charge of the BBC chair's appointment.

Speaking to broadcasters while visiting Scotland, Mr Sunak said: "This is about doing things properly, and professionally, and when concerns are raised it's right that there's a proper process, an independent process, that we don't pre-judge, we allow it to carry on, establish the facts of what happened, reach a conclusion.

"That's happened, Richard Sharp has resigned, but it's right that we do these things properly and professionally. I think most people will think that's the right thing to do."

Mr Johnson has declined to comment on the inquiry’s findings.

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