The broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said the BBC chair, Richard Sharp, should “fall on his sword” over criticism of him for helping Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan, saying the row was causing a “great deal of damage for the BBC”.
Patience Wheatcroft, the former journalist who now sits in the House of Lords, also said she believed Sharp should resign, saying the BBC needed a chair with “impeccable judgment”.
Sharp has apologised for introducing his friend Sam Blyth to the Cabinet Office’s Simon Case. Blyth is a cousin of Johnson who was offering to help the then prime minister with his financial troubles, including as a guarantor of the loan.
Dimbleby said the BBC needed this “like it needs a hole in the head” and said Sharp should go for the good of the corporation after a highly critical select committee report that found he had made “significant errors of judgment”.
The veteran broadcaster told BBC Newsnight: “I have no doubt he is an honourable man, no reason do I have to doubt that. 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’.”
Wheatcroft, who sits on the Lords communications and digital committee, told 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.”
Rishi Sunak said on Monday he would await the outcome of the inquiry ordered by the commissioner for public appointments, William Shawcross, which is likely to be delayed after he recused himself because of a personal relationship with Sharp. Last week, Adam Heppinstall KC was announced as his replacement.
Sunak told reporters he did not want to prejudge an inquiry by the government appointments watchdog. The prime minister’s spokesperson added: “Ministers followed the correct process in terms of the appointment of Mr Sharp. He was someone who was selected appropriately following the appropriate process.”
At the weekend, a spokesperson for Sharp expressed regret that he had not made information available to the MPs who vetted his appointment and said they were awaiting the result of the investigation by Heppinstall.
They added: “Mr Sharp would like to apologise again to the BBC’s brilliant staff, given the distraction it has caused. He is proud of the work the board has done driving positive change at the BBC over the last two years and very much looks forward to continuing that work.”
