The embattled chair of the BBC should “fall on his sword” to prevent more damage being done to the corporation’s reputation, veteran broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said.
Richard Sharp is facing pressure to quit after it emerged he helped Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan to get the prime minister out of financial trouble.
Mr Dimbleby said row was causing a “great deal of damage for the BBC”, telling the broadcaster’s Newsnight programme that the corporation needed the bad publicity “like it needs a hole in the head”.
“I have no doubt he is an honourable man, no reason do I have to doubt that,” he added.
“But what he should do honourably is to fall on his sword and say ‘in the interest of the BBC which I care about I don’t want this to go on and on and on, I shall stand aside’.”
Mr Sharp has apologised for introducing his friend Sam Blyth to the Cabinet secretary Simon Case. Mr Blyth was offering to guarantee a loan for the PM.
Patience Wheatcroft, a former journalist who now sits in the House of Lords, also this morning said Mr Sharp should resign.
She told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Mr Sharp may be a very honourable man but there’s no getting away from the fact he helped to organise an £800,000 loan that would get the prime minister out of financial trouble, he did him a favour just when he wanted the prime minister to give him the top job at the BBC.
“Even if Mr Sharp behaved absolutely correctly, it doesn’t look right, it doesn’t smell right, and it doesn’t feel right for the BBC to have a chairman who is now being questioned about his judgment. What the BBC needs in a chairman is impeccable judgment.”
The BBC board is to decide whether it believes Mr Sharp can carry on once the appointments watchdog investigation concludes, The Independent understands. The BBC reported that the corporation’s board was set to hold an unscheduled meeting as soon as Monday.
Rishi Sunak has so far backed Mr Sharp, an ex-investment banker who previously worked as an advisor to both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak, to remain in the role.
The PM’s official spokesperson, asked by reporters yesterday if Mr Sunak still had confidence in the BBC chair, said “Yes.” He added that No 10 was still “confident” in the appointment process that saw Mr Johnson put Mr Sharp in charge of the corporation in 2021.
Mr Sunak on Monday that he would await the outcome of the inquiry ordered by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Labour and the SNP have said Mr Sharp’s position is “untenable”.
