Richard Sharp has resigned after a report found he failed to declare two conflicts of interest during his appointment process.
Mr Sharp, a Tory donor, had helped arrange a meeting for Boris Johnson to meet with someone who could give him a personal loan.
He also told the prime minister in advance that he wanted the job – and the appointment panel was told he was the “only” candidate supported by ministers.
His old friend Sam Blyth, a Canadian businessman, went to Mr Sharp with an offer to help Mr Johnson as the then-prime minister struggled financially in 2020.
In a statement, he said: “Mr Heppinstall’s view is that while I did breach the governance code for public appointments, he states that a breach does not necessarily invalidate an appointment.
“Indeed, I have always maintained the breach was inadvertent and not material, which the facts he lays out substantiate. The Secretary of State has consulted with the BBC Board who support that view.”
Watch again: BBC chair resigns over ‘Cash for Boris’ scandal
How did Twitter react to the resignation?
Richard Sharp’s resignation has been dominating social media today. Here are some of the key reactions from Twitter today:
Watch: Richard Sharp report – The findings
Voices | Richard Sharp’s real failing was keeping bad company (that means you, Boris)
Say what you like about Richard Sharp, he is not a stupid man, Sean O’Grady writes. He knew when the game was up, and, unlike many others in a similar position, did not try to hang on and embarrass himself.
He is an intelligent man, and has been a perfectly competent chair of the BBC – a role to which he was appointed, as he always said, on “merit”.
It’s a traditionally political appointment, so his being a past Tory donor shouldn’t necessarily have ruled him out. No one minded when Chris Patten was chair, and he’d been chair of the Tory party. Labour sympathisers have been given the job too, and fallen out with a Labour government.
Read the full voices piece below:
Boris Johnson should be investigated over role in Sharp appointment
Boris Johnson’s role in the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC chairman should be examined, the former commissioner for public appointments has said.
Sir Peter Riddell, who was the commissioner when Mr Sharp took on the job, said the former prime minister’s role “hasn’t really been discussed enough” because it was outside the remit of Adam Heppinstall KC’s inquiry.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “He himself was conflicted… Should he have recused himself from the appointment given he knew about Richard Sharp helping him out on this loan?
“Should someone in the Cabinet Office have told their colleagues in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport about what was happening with the private finances?”
Sharp has caused ‘undoubted damage’ to trust in BBC – media committee chair
The acting chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of MPs says Richard Sharp’s failure to disclose two conflicts of interest when he interviewed for BBC chairman has caused “undoubted damage” to public trust in the BBC.
Conservative MP Damian Green says this “could all have been avoided had he chosen to be more open with the facts” when he first appeared before the committee more than two years ago.
Mr Green said: “Sharp’s resignation shows that pre-appointment hearings should not be seen by candidates as a minor inconvenient hurdle to be brushed aside, but as an important part of a process to ensure the right person is appointed to the job.
“We hope that lessons have been learnt by all those involved so that future appointments are not clouded in the same way and people can have faith in those chosen for public positions.”
Leaks to press made appointments under Johnson’s government ‘almost irrelevant’
Leaks to the press on preferred candidates for public appointments under Boris Johnson’s government made the recruitment process “almost irrelevant”, former culture minister Lord Vaizey has said.
He agreed with Adam Heppinstall KC’s recommendation that these “pre-briefings” should stop, with the barrister noting in his report that the Telegraph reported that Richard Sharp was tipped as a frontrunner as he was applying for the BBC chairmanship in 2020.
Lord Vaizey told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “People who get involved in public appointments, who are interested in public appointments, read the newspapers.
“Certainly, under Boris Johnson, they were told by the newspapers pretty clearly who Boris Johnson wanted to be the chair of various different public bodies. I think that definitely had a material impact on people who might have been thinking about going for the chair of the BBC, who would have been very good appointments, and I think they were put off, so I think that does have to stop…
“The last government certainly gave the impression that these jobs would be given to favoured candidates and the process was almost irrelevant.”
Opinion | Rishi Sunak should have sacked Richard Sharp straight away
The moment Richard Sharp admitted that he had helped Boris Johnson with his personal finances, Rishi Sunak should have sacked him, writes our chief political commentator John Rentoul. There was no need to appoint a lawyer to conduct an inquiry, because Sharp, as he now accepts, had broken the rules.
Media reacts to Richard Sharp resignation
On Friday, Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said Mr Sharp had “lost the dressing room” at the BBC over the long-running probe into his breach of appointment rules.
She said: “Richard Sharp has shamefully clung to his position as chair for months whilst all around him could clearly see his time was up, so of course it is a relief and proper that he has now finally resigned.
“He had lost the dressing room, he had lost the respect of senior figures in the broadcasting industry and besmirched the reputation of the BBC.
“Now the BBC must move on with a new chair who can help steer the corporation through difficult times and champion public service broadcasting.”
The BBC’s World Affairs editor John Simpson also tweeted: “Following Richard Sharp’s resignation as BBC Chairman, it’s likely there’ll be more support for the proposal that the chairman should be nominated by an independent committee and not by the government.
“Polls always show that people want governments to keep their hands off the BBC.”
Damian Green, the acting chair of the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said Mr Sharp’s successor must have “the integrity and impartiality needed for this role”.
Mr Green added that “we hope that lessons have been learnt” so that future appointments are not “clouded in the same way” and so that “people can have faith in those chosen for public positions”.
Rishi Sunak told journalists: “This is about doing things properly and professionally.
“When concerns are raised, it is right there is a proper process, an independent process that we don’t prejudge, we allow it to carry on, establish the facts of what happened, reach a conclusion.
“That has happened, Richard Sharp has resigned. But it is right that we do these things properly and professionally, I think most people will think that is the right thing to do.”
Asked if Mr Sharp’s replacement should be a non-political appointment, Mr Sunak said he was “focused on delivering for the British people”.
He said: “That is what is I am here talking about today in Scotland, how we can work constructively with the Scottish Government to deliver for the people of Scotland.”
