BBC chairman denies arranging Boris loan
BBC chairman Richard Sharp has denied facilitating a loan of up to £800,000 for Boris Johnson before the then-prime minister backed his appointment to lead the broadcaster.
In a bruising grilling by MPs, Mr Sharp insisted that he “didn’t arrange the loan” despite admitting that he introduced his friend Sam Blyth, who wanted to help the then-prime minister with his financial troubles, to the Cabinet Office.
The former Goldman Sachs banker said he regretted causing “embarrassment for the BBC”, but showed no remorse about withholding information about his involvement in the matter from the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee while he was in the running for the BBC post.
Hauled in front of the committee again yesterday, Mr Sharp conceded that he acted as a “sort of introduction agency” when arranging a meeting between Mr Blyth and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.
“As a go-between I was not between Mr Blyth and Mr Johnson, but I was actually seeking to ensure that due process was followed by ensuring that Mr Blyth had contact with the Cabinet Office before he would do anything to help his cousin,” he added.
Mr Sharp said he then raised with Mr Case “the fact that I’d submitted my application to be the chair of the BBC and that therefore to avoid a conflict, or perception of conflict, I could have – and we agreed – no further participation in whatever transpired whatsoever, and I didn’t.”
Mr Sharp admitted that he went to see Mr Johnson to discuss the BBC chairmanship before he applied, but insisted their relationship was “broadly professional”.
At this point he considered his conversation with Mr Blyth about potentially supporting the then-prime minister financially “an after-dinner party comment” and “had no knowledge at that point that Mr Blyth was doing anything to take anything further forward”, Mr Sharp said.
“I did not provide and have not provided the former prime minister personal financial advice, I know nothing about his (financial) affairs, I never have done,” he said. “I didn’t facilitate a loan...
“I’ve nothing to do with it whatsoever, I’m not party to anything that then happened or didn’t happen.”
The BBC chairman was accused by MP Kevin Brennan of a “monumental failure of judgment” in failing to tell the DCMS committee about the arrangement at his preappointment hearing in January 2021.
Asked whether he regretted not doing so, Mr Sharp said: “Obviously I regret this situation.”