BBC chair Richard Sharp is under more pressure over his role in facilitating an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson. 

Both the SNP and Labour have said his position is increasingly untenable following a damning report into his recruitment. 

A cross-party committee of MPs said he should have declared his part in helping the cash-strapped former Conservative secure the funds when he was applying for the job of BBC chairman.

They said the omission could ultimately damage trust in the broadcaster. 

READ MORE: Main events in the Richard Sharp row

While Mr Sharp did not arrange the loan, in September 2020 he introduced his friend Sam Blyth, an extremely wealthy cousin of Mr Johnson, to the Cabinet Office.

Mr Blyth then went on to guarantee the £800,000 loan. The identity of the actual lender is not known.

Mr Sharp was named as the preferred candidate for the BBC job in January 2021 and the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee initially backed his appointment.

The Herald: BBC chair Richard Sharp

However, in a new report published on Sunday, the Committee said they had been left “without the full facts we required to make an informed judgment on his suitability as a candidate”.

READ MORE: BBC chair Richard Sharp denies role in loan for Boris Johnson before appointment

The MPs said: “Richard Sharp’s decisions, firstly to become involved in the facilitation of a loan to the then-prime minister while at the same time applying for a job that was in that same person’s gift, and then to fail to disclose this material relationship, were significant errors of judgment, which undermine confidence in the public appointments process and could deter qualified individuals from applying for such posts,” the MPs said.

The committee concluded: “Mr Sharp should consider the impact his omissions will have on trust in him, the BBC and the public appointments process.”

SNP MP John Nicolson, who sits on the Commons committee, said Mr Sharp’s position is now “extremely difficult”.

He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme: “He's lost the trust of the BBC staff. That's very clear. I've been deluged with messages from BBC staff saying they don't see how he can head up the BBC anymore.

“And he broke the rules. The rules are very clear. 

“When you sign up for that job application, you're asked if there's anything about your relationships with anybody that could cause embarrassment. 

“This has clearly caused embarrassment. 

“We knew he was a big Tory donor who’d given hundreds of thousands to the Conservative Party. But what he didn't tell us was that he'd facilitated an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson, the prime minister who then gave him the job. 

“It's all a bit banana republic.”

READ MORE: Public Appointments Commissioner recuses himself from probe into Richard Sharp

The SNP MP said he hoped the affair would lead to a change in political culture. 

“I do not think you should be able to give huge donations to a political party and then be rewarded by that political party with a plum job.”

Shadow Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy said Mr Sharp’s position was “increasingly untenable”.

She told Sky News’s Ridge on Sunday: “Increasingly, the circumstances around the relationship between the Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson and Richard Sharp is looking more and more murky, and I think his position is becoming increasingly untenable as a result.”

Mr Sharp’s recruitment is being scrutinised by Adam Heppinstall KC on behalf of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The BBC has also launched its own review looking at any possible conflicts of interest since Richard Sharp joined the corporation.

Former Tory culture minister Lord Vaizey defended Mr Sharp, saying: “You can acknowledge it is a blunder without saying it is hanging offence.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House: “The report doesn’t say he should resign. It is really stretching it to say that Richard Sharp arranged a loan for Boris Johnson.”

A spokesman for Mr Sharp said the BBC chairman “appreciates that there was information that the committee felt that it should have been made aware of in his pre-appointment hearing”.

“He regrets this and apologises,” the spokesman said.

“It was in seeking at the time to ensure that the rules were followed, and in the belief that this had been achieved, that Mr Sharp acted in good faith in the way he did.”

“At that meeting, and subsequently, it was not suggested by the Cabinet Office that the act of connecting Mr Blyth with Mr Case was something that should be declared, and it was explicitly agreed that by not being party to the matter going forward he would be excluded from any conflict.”

The spokesman said Mr Sharp “would like to apologise again to the BBC’s brilliant staff given the distraction it has caused”.