EMBATTLED BBC chairman Richard Sharp's explaination of his involvement in securing an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson has been described as being like something from a "banana republic".
Sharp faced the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday after the disclosure that he helped the former prime minister secure the loan before Johnson backed his appointment to lead the broadcaster.
Tory donor Sharp told the committee he had not facilitated a loan to Johnson, but confirmed he had introduced his friend Sam Blyth to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case after Blyth – a distant cousin of Johnson - said he wanted to help Johnson with financial difficulties.
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He added he had raised with Blyth that he had submitted his application to be chair of the BBC “and that therefore, to avoid a conflict, or perception of conflict, I could have - and we agreed - no further participation in whatever transpired whatsoever. And I didn't.”
But John Nicolson – the SNP’s shadow culture secretary – said Sharp’s account of events still seemed “a bit banana republic and cosy” and left the impression “so much of this is pals appointing pals and pals donating money to pals”.
Nicolson told Sharp: “What appalls staff I think is that you got this job with no BBC experience.
“They knew about the vast donations to the Tory party but they didn’t know about the £800,000.
“I think it leaves the impression [that] so much of this is pals appointing pals, donating money to pals, and it leaves the impression that it’s all a bit banana republic and cosy.”
Sharp has been chairman of the BBC since February 2021 and is in charge of upholding and protecting the BBC’s independence and ensuring it fulfils its mission to inform, educate and entertain.
During a heated exchange, Nicolson asked Sharp whether he understood how “furious” BBC staff were with him and what the difference was between an application he’d put forward for the BBC board previously - that he failed to get an interview for - and the one for the chairman post he was handed.
Nicolson said: “You previously applied for a job on the BBC board, am I right?”
Sharp replied: "I applied to be a non-executive on the management board, not the governance board. I didn’t get an interview.”
Nicolson then said: “What do you think the difference was between your failed application then and your application now following the huge facility you helped the prime minister with?”
Sharp simply replied: “I did not help the prime minister with a huge facility.”
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Nicolson said BBC staff had written to him, expressing anger that Sharp was on the selection panel for the journalistic position of head of news.
But Sharp said if they were angry then “we need to do a better job of explaining the governance of the BBC as it currently is”, arguing the appointment had board implications and it was appropriate for him to be on the panel.
Nicolson slated Sharp for not telling the committee he helped facilitate the loan.
After Sharp denied facilitating the loan, Nicolson said: “You knew what the score was and you didn’t tell us about it. Let me remind you of what you signed up to on your BBC application.
"It says ‘you cannot be considered if you fail to declare any conflict of interest’. It goes on, ‘any issues on your personal or professional history that could cause embarrassment or public confidence to be jeopardised must be disclosed’. Why didn’t you disclose it?”
Sharp has said his relationship with Boris Johnson is “broadly professional” as he denied providing the former prime minister with financial advice.
He insisted the “phrasing was wrong” in a Cabinet Office memo, which said Case warned Johnson to stop asking Sharp for advice about his personal financial matters given the latter’s imminent announcement as the new BBC chairman.
The BBC chairman told MPs: “I did not provide and have not provided the former prime minister personal financial advice, I know nothing about his affairs, I never have done.”
Sharp declined to say whether he would resign if an investigation by the public appointments watchdog criticises him for withholding information about his involvement in Boris Johnson’s finances during his application for the BBC chairmanship.
Sharp added: “I regret the distraction this has caused, there’s no doubt about that.”
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