Sunak’s old boss in the running to be chairman of the BBC

A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE former Conservative donor who was Rishi Sunak’s boss at City bank Goldman Sachs has emerged as a surprise contender to be chairman of the BBC, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Richard Sharp, who spent more than two decades at the Wall Street banking giant and has been an informal adviser on Covid-19 to Mr Sunak since April, is understood to be applying for the £160,000 a year job. The news came as George Osborne ruled himself out of the job. A source close to the former Conservative chancellor said he had been unable to make the four-day-aweek role work with his other jobs.

Boris Johnson is understood to be very keen to appoint a Conservative to the role, to counter a perceived Leftwing bias at the corporation.

Ministers increased the chairman’s salary to £160,000 for the part-time role to encourage a wider range of candidates when the vacancy was posted online earlier this month.

Mr Sharp, a member of the Bank of England’s financial policy committee from 2014 until last year, is well connected to both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

He was hired by Mr Sunak as an unpaid adviser in April “to provide expert advice on the economic and financial response to Covid-19”.

He also advised Mr Johnson on economic policy when he was Mayor of London. Mr Sunak worked for Mr Sharp prior to the future chancellor’s departure from Goldman Sachs in 2004.

Mr Sharp is understood to have a personal fortune of more than £100million and reportedly has donated thousands of pounds to the Conservative party.

Mr Sharp, 64, was earlier this year described as having “a reputation as a sharp, independent thinker and a safe pair of hands”. He declined to comment to yesterday.