Tory favourites blocked from BBC board

Watchdog intervened in recruitment process for board positions at BFI and Office for Students

A WATCHDOG intervened in the recruitment process for the BBC chairman by blocking interview panellists recommended by ministers.

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) also blocked appointments to the boards for the British Film Institute (BFI) and Office for Students because they were not “sufficiently independent”.

The interventions, revealed by an Freedom of Information request by The Guardian, also found that ministers complied with the watchdog’s advice and changed their recommended appointees.

The revelations come as the Government has been accused of trying to “rebalance” the leadership of powerful public bodies.

Last year, the former editor of The Daily Telegraph, Lord Moore of Etchingham, withdrew as a candidate for chairman of the BBC when it emerged he was the Government’s first choice for the role.

Since then, Richard Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker and ex-chairman of the Royal Academy, has been appointed to head the corporation.

However, the OPCA confirmed it challenged candidates for appointment boards for the BBC and BFI, and twice for the Office for Students earlier this year.

Since then, James Wharton, the Conservative peer, has been appointed to lead the Office for Students, and Tim Richards, the founder of Vue Cinemas, to head the BFI.

There are no rules preventing the Government appointing supporters to prominent political roles. However,

panels selecting such candidates must include non-political “senior independent panel members”.

In the instances where Peter Riddell, the then Commissioner for Public Appointments, intervened, the OCPA said he deemed the Governments’ panel choices “were not sufficiently independent as set out in the [public appointments] code”.

The OCPA has not named the individuals it objected to.

However, in the case of the selection panel for the Office for Students, members included Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, the former Conservative MP Eric Ollerenshaw and the Conservative peer Laura Wyld.

Following the revelation, a Government spokesman said: “The commissioner found no breaches of the code in the cases highlighted; he was properly consulted by ministers as required.”

They also said that of the 1,500 people appointed to public bodies last year, only 2 per cent declared significant political links to the Conservative Party.

Mr Riddell, who left the role of commissioner earlier this year, said he felt there had been a marked shift in the current administration to “rebalancing” the leadership of public bodies.

He told The Guardian: “The tempo has stepped up. Under the [Theresa] May government, May was, as you would expect, rather correct and she was concerned with getting good people to do things.

“Clearly things changed two years ago and there was more of a desire to shift the balance.”

‘The commissioner found no breaches in the code in the cases highlighted. He was properly consulted’