BBC chairman Richard Sharp made “significant errors of judgment” over his involvement in facilitating a loan guarantee for Boris Johnson at a time when he was seeking the role at the broadcaster, MPs found.
Here are some of the key events leading up to the report by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee:
September 2020: Richard Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker advising the Government on the economic response to the coronavirus pandemic, is contacted by old friend Sam Blyth, a distant cousin of then-prime minister Boris Johnson. Mr Blyth says he wants to help Mr Johnson with his financial difficulties.
October 2020: The recruitment process opens for the next chairman of the BBC.
November 2020: Mr Sharp submits his application for the BBC job. He has already discussed it with Mr Johnson.
Late November 2020: Mr Blyth gets back in touch with Mr Sharp, asking him to arrange a meeting with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, Whitehall’s top civil servant.
December 2020: Mr Sharp meets Mr Case to discuss Mr Blyth’s request for a meeting and the offer of help for Mr Johnson. They agreed that Mr Sharp should have no further involvement in the matter.
January 6, 2021: Mr Sharp is named as the Government’s preferred candidate for the BBC chairman role.
Richard Sharp is the Government's preferred candidate for @BBC Chair, and is expected to take over from Sir David Clementi in February.
Richard has extensive experience in finance, commerce, the creative industries and public service.https://t.co/O067GrHiwL pic.twitter.com/MNWUIVFJtd
— Department for Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) January 6, 2021
January 14, 2021: The Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee holds a pre-appointment hearing with Mr Sharp. They are not informed about his role in helping facilitate the £800,000 loan guarantee for Mr Johnson from Mr Blyth.
January 15, 2021: The committee concludes it is content to confirm Mr Sharp’s appointment.
February 16, 2021: Mr Sharp formally takes up the role of BBC chairman, an appointment lasting four years.
January 21, 2023: The Sunday Times reports Mr Sharp’s involvement in facilitating the loan guarantee.
January 23, 2023: Mr Sharp writes to BBC staff telling them he is “really sorry” the matter had become a distraction for the broadcaster and says the nominations committee of the BBC board will examine whether there have been any conflicts of interest since he started his role.
— Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (@CommonsDCMS) February 7, 2023
January 23, 2023: Commissioner for Public Appointments William Shawcross said he would review the competition which led to Mr Sharp getting the BBC job. He subsequently recuses himself, because he has met Mr Sharp a number of times, with Adam Heppinstall KC appointed to lead the investigation.
February 7, 2023: Mr Sharp appears before the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee to defend his actions, insisting he “acted in good faith to ensure that the rules were followed”.
February 12, 2023: The committee publishes a report stating that Mr Sharp made “significant errors of judgment”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here