MPS to confront BBC chairman over his role in Johnson loan deal

THE BBC chairman will be questioned by MPS over his alleged role in helping set up an £800,000 credit line for Boris Johnson.

Richard Sharp, the national broadcaster’s most senior executive, has been summoned to appear before the Commons culture committee on Feb 7.

He will be braced for scrutiny by backbenchers over the circumstances in which he was appointed in February 2021. On Monday, the commissioner for public appointments announced an investigation into claims that Mr Sharp helped Mr Johnson arrange the loan in late 2020, a few weeks before he was appointed to his BBC role by Oliver Dowden, the then culture secretary.

Damian Collins, the Tory chairman of the committee, told Mr Sharp he was being summoned after “media reports regarding your appointment”.

“The Committee intends to cover the issues raised in your pre-appointment hearing and any developments since then,” he added. It comes after a former senior executive at the broadcaster said there was a clear conflict of interest over the BBC chairman’s appointment. Richard Ayre, who was deputy chief executive of BBC news and a member of Ofcom’s content board, asked: “Was there a conflict of interest at that time when he approached the Cabinet Secretary? You bet there was,” he told Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch podcast.

He said: “If [Richard Sharp] chose to walk the plank, that would be a personal decision. It’s not for the BBC to determine what happens next. The question is, how did he get the job, and was his judgement and was the judgement of the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, appropriate in doing what he did to help out the Prime Minister’s financial position at the time that he was seeking to be chosen by the Prime Minister, as chairman of the BBC.”

Mr Sharp insisted yesterday morning that he would not quit, saying he felt “comfortable” there was no conflict of interest and he was “confident” he would be cleared by a government investigation into his appointment. He told the BBC he was “appointed on merit” and “absolutely” felt comfortable being the face of its impartiality.

He insisted he didn’t “know anything” about Mr Johnson’s personal finances and had taken steps to ensure “due process was followed by the book”.

Mr Sharp said he had contacted Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary to discuss an offer of financial assistance being made to Mr Johnson and he agreed I’d avoided a conflict or the perception of conflict. He also denied misleading the culture committee when it questioned him during his appointment process in January 2021.

Mr Sharp said Sam Blyth, a Canadian multimillionaire and distant cousin of the former prime minister, who underwrote the £800,000 loan, was an “old friend” and insisted he met him and Mr Johnson in May 2021, four months after he had been announced as the chairman of the BBC. Mr Johnson told Sky News on Monday: “This is a load of complete nonsense. Richard Sharp knows absolutely nothing about my finances.”