BBC chief quits amid furor over role in Boris Johnson loan

LONDON (AP):

Richard Sharp, the chairman of the BBC, quit Friday after a report found that he failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest over his role in arranging a loan more than two years ago for Boris Johnson, as scandals from the former prime minister’s turbulent term continue to rattle UK public life.

The publicly funded national broadcaster has been under political pressure after it was revealed that Richard Sharp helped arrange the line of credit weeks before he was appointed to the BBC post on the government’s recommendation.

The guarantor for the 800,000-pound ($1 million) line of credit was businessman Sam Blyth, a distant cousin of Johnson who founded a chain of private schools in Canada. The deal was facilitated by Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker and Conservative Party donor, who arranged a meeting between Blyth and the UK’s top civil servant to discuss Blyth’s offer of financial help. It’s unclear who actually loaned the money.

Johnson was then Conservative Party leader, as well as British prime minister.

A report on the episode by senior lawyer Adam Heppinstall published Friday found Sharp “failed to disclose potential perceived conflicts of interest”.

The report found Sharp did not reveal his role in the loan guarantee to the BBC appointments panel before he was appointed chairman in early 2021.

“There is a risk of a perception that Mr Sharp was recommended for appointment because he assisted … the former prime minister in a private financial matter,” Heppinstall wrote in his report.

“There may well have been a risk of a perception that Mr Sharp would not be independent from the former prime minister, if appointed,” he said.

Sharp said he would remain in his BBC role until the end of June while the search for a successor takes place. He said he made an “inadvertent” breach of the disclosure rules and was quitting to “prioritise the interests of the BBC”.

“I feel that this matter may well be a distraction from the corporation’s good work were I to remain in post until the end of my term,” he said.