The chairman of Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, Richard Sharp, resigned on Friday after an independent report found he had breached public broadcasting rules on public appointments, having helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson obtain guarantees for a credit of up to 800,000 pounds (about 907,000 euros) weeks before the then head of government recommended him for office.
In a statement, Sharp explained this Friday that it takes this decision in order to “give priority to the interests” of the channel, considering that this matter “could be a distraction from the good work that the corporation is doing.” Sharp always denied that he had incurred a conflict of interest when he took office on February 16, 2021.
Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs bank manager and Johnson’s adviser during his time as London mayor, introduced Canadian millionaire Sam Blyth to then-government cabinet secretary Simon Case to discuss credit.
Both Sharp and Blyth had participated in a dinner at the end of 2020 in which they analyzed formulas to defray Johnson’s financial problems, who had difficulties to cover his expenses with the prime minister’s salary – about 165,000 pounds or 187,000 euros-, as revealed last January the newspaper The Sunday Times.
The country’s public appointments watchdog has been investigating how the government selected Sharp to chair the broadcaster in 2021. The report found that while he breached the government’s code for public appointments by failing to disclose a potential conflict of interest , it was also the case that non-compliance did not necessarily invalidate their appointment. However, Sharp preferred to resign. He will stay until June to give the government time to find a replacement.
