BBC president forced to resign for helping Boris Johnson get a loan

Richard Sharp, in the British Parliament, last February.Getty

The chairman of the British public broadcasting corporation, the BBC, Richard Sharp, has finally thrown in the towel, after trying for months to deal with discontent and rebellion that had spread among public service workers and numerous Conservative and Labor MPs.

Sharp presented his resignation this Friday, just before the publication of an independent report that expressed, black on white, how the former investment banker broke the corporation's incompatibility rules just before he was proposed and chosen to lead it .

The public corporation commissioned an independent investigation by attorney Adam Heppinstall.

His conclusions, which have been released this Friday, have been devastating for Sharp, who has immediately announced his resignation, but will remain in office until the end of June.

The document makes it clear that Sharp helped former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who precisely appointed him to the position, to obtain a personal loan of more than 900,000 euros in 2020 that would allow him to get out of trouble.

The then prime minister was burdened by financial responsibilities stemming from his divorce from Marina Wheeler, to whom he was married for 25 years, as well as money he had been forced to repay for decorating the Downing Street apartment.

Sharp, 67, is an old acquaintance of the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

He was his boss during the time that Sunak worked at the investment bank Goldman Sachs, and the politician came to sign him as an adviser during the time that he was in charge of the Ministry of Economy.

However, since his intermediation to help Johnson get out of his financial difficulties unscathed came to light, the current prime minister distanced himself from the president of the BBC and did not want to provide him with public support.

Last February, the Committee on Media, Culture and Sport of the British Parliament subjected Sharp to a tense session and concluded that he had broken, with his behavior, the "expected ethical standards" in someone who occupies a position like his, and that he had made “a significant error in judgment” in going ahead with his candidacy.

Sharp has fought to the bitter end with his legal team and, in fact, was able to get attorney Heppinstall to tone down some of his accusations after hearing his rebuttal.

"Mr. Heppinstall maintains that I have broken the code of good governance regarding public appointments, but also indicates that such bankruptcy does not necessarily invalidate an appointment," Sharp said in his resignation letter.

“In any case, I have decided that I must give priority to the interests of the BBC.

I believe that this matter would have been a distraction for the good performance of the corporation, ”he added.

That interference could be clearly seen during the ill-fated episode of Gary Lineker, the former soccer player and host of the

who was suspended from his post last March after he criticized on Twitter the hardening of Sunak's immigration policy.

The corporation's CEO, Tim Davie, was forced to reinstate the media star after a barrage of criticism from lawmakers and fans, and a rebellion by the network's journalists and sportscasters that put his programming at risk.

Although Sharp was not directly involved in the episode, the investigation into which he was subjected cast a huge shadow over the moral authority of the corporation's management and the way in which he had intended to teach Lineker a lesson.

Sharp was a man respected for his philanthropy and good character, but the appointment symbolized the growing contempt the Conservatives held for the BBC, which they accused of a left-wing bias and a lack of impartiality.

Johnson came to test the possibility of financially drowning the entity and eliminating the annual fee of 180 euros that citizens pay to support public broadcasting.

Part of the commitment of the investment banker, who in his new position began to receive an annual salary of 180,000 euros, was precisely to correct that course.

Curiously, during his tenure he ended up making amends for past mistakes and increased funding for the corporation's foreign service, one of the departments with the greatest international prestige.

However, the discontent of the employees was growing, until it became insurmountable.

And the Labor opposition knew from the outset that Sharp was easy prey: "His behavior has caused enormous damage to the BBC's reputation, and seriously undermined its independence as a result of Conservative Party cronyism and corruption," the BBC has said. Labor spokesperson for Culture and Media, Lucy Powell, shortly after the independent report reached her.

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