Ministers are facing fresh demands to bolster the independence of the process to find the next BBC chair after claims that “cronyism and sleaze” have damaged the role and the corporation’s reputation.
The government has been pressed to depoliticise the appointment of the job after the resignation of Richard Sharp, a Tory donor. He quit after an independent investigation found he had failed to reveal critical information about his role in facilitating a loan for then prime minister Boris Johnson when applying for the job.
An angry Sharp said he was resigning to “prioritise the interests of the BBC” after the report by the barrister Adam Heppinstall found he had failed to properly disclose his role in facilitating a loan guarantee of up to £800,000 for Johnson from businessman Sam Blyth, a distant relation of the former prime minister.
Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, is demanding a “root and branch” review of appointments to the BBC board, a zero interference policy from ministers, and the power for the appointments panel to put forward their preferred candidates.
She also demands safeguards to ensure that the selection panel for Sharp’s replacement will be “free from the accusation of cronyism and stuffing the panel full of fellow-travellers” – an issue that has caused concern across Whitehall. In a letter to culture secretary Lucy Frazer, she said that, without major reform, the process of replacing Sharp risked being “mired in the same cronyism and sleaze that led to the current mess”.
“Conservative prime ministers giving jobs to their friends has already done untold damage to the reputation of the BBC and undermined its independence,” she writes. “I would like some reassurances that the process will be significantly strengthened and made more independent.”
Insiders pointed out that Labour had also appointed political figures while in power. “It wasn’t so long ago Labour was accused of appointing a Labour crony as BBC chair, so it’s a little pot-kettle-black,” said a government insider. “Ultimately, the BBC receives vast sums of public funding, and as long as that continues there must be democratic accountability.”
David Dimbleby, the veteran broadcaster, has called for a cross-party public commission to appoint the next BBC chair. Presenter Gary Lineker has also said the government should never be involved in appointing the chair.
A department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson said: “The office for the commissioner of public appointments report makes clear that DCMS ran the process to appoint the chair of the BBC in line with the governance code on public appointments. The BBC royal charter sets out that the chair of the BBC must be appointed in line with the governance code on public appointments, which clearly states that the ultimate responsibility for public appointments lies with ministers.” Questions remain for Johnson. While Blyth provided a loan guarantee, the loan source has remained a mystery. However, the Observer can now disclose that the loan came from an unnamed UK bank. While the full loan facility was not taken up, it is not known how much Johnson borrowed.
Opposition figures are now demanding full disclosure from Johnson over the loan. “Boris Johnson should never have been allowed to appoint Richard Sharp as BBC chair,” said Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone. “Now that Sharp has resigned as a result of this scandal, the public deserves to know exactly who was bankrolling the sitting prime minister.
“If Sunak wants to govern with integrity, he must order an immediate, transparent and independent inquiry to get to the bottom of exactly where the funding for this loan originated.”
The row has left a series of questions for Simon Case, the cabinet secretary who featured heavily in the investigation. Allies of Sharp are furious at Case’s conduct after the cabinet secretary claimed not to remember the details of a key meeting with Sharp in which he believes he disclosed important information.
According to the report, no official note-taker was present at the meeting and Case relied on his own notes to recall the exchange. Case did not dispute Sharp’s version of the conversation, but, the report said, “he simply cannot recall either way and is limited to relying on his notes”.
BBC chair – the contenders
Sir Nicholas Serota A current member of the BBC Board who spent three decades running and expanding the Tate galleries. Has faced criticism as chair of Arts Council England for slashing grants to opera companies and to some beloved performance venues. Regarded as a careful diplomat who helped engineer the cultural boom in London under New Labour.
Dame Sharon White Now in her third year chairing the John Lewis Partnership, she was chief executive at the broadcasting regulatory body, Ofcom. She has lost credit nationally for questioning the famous collective basis of the department store’s business. Others in retail salute a determination to tackle the chain’s heavy losses, withholding the annual employee bonuses.
George Osborne Currently chairs the British Museum, where he has made waves by talking with Greece about the Parthenon Marbles. He recently edited the London Evening Standard, after a surprise move into media following his time as a Conservative chancellor of the exchequer. Regarded as an architect of Tory austerity, he also chairs the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
Baroness Nicky Morgan An education secretary under David Cameron and briefly a culture secretary for Boris Johnson, the former Conservative MP has argued for a “national broadcaster with a very strong international footprint”, but queries the validity of the licence fee as a form of general taxation.
Sir Trevor Phillips Phillips has experience as a programme-maker and presenter and a proactive attitude to improving diversity, although he has on occasions spoken out against the liberal consensus on how best to do that. A former Labour chairman of the London Assembly, Phillips was appointed by Tony Blair to the position of chair of the Commission for Racial Equality and then to its successor the Equality and Human rights Commission.
