BBC needs new rules for appointing chair in wake of Richard Sharp affair, says David Dimbleby
The veteran broadcaster David Dimbleby has said a cross-party public commission should appoint the BBC chair, in the wake of Richard Sharp’s resignation after breaking rules over dealings with Boris Johnson – but ruled himself out of the running for the job.
Sharp resigned after being found to have breached public appointment rules for failing to declare a connection to a secret £800,000 loan for the UK’s former prime minister.
Talking to BBC Radio Four’s Today programme, Dimbleby said the current system gives too much power to prime ministers to select the BBC chair and that a new way needs to be found.
“We’re not idiots politically, we know everybody has political views. We know they disagree,” Dimbleby said. “But we look for somebody to run something like the BBC who sets their politics to one side, the best way of assuring that would be to have a commission made up of all parties, in political parties and let them decide.”
Earlier this year, the Sunday Times revealed that Sharp had secretly helped an acquaintance, Sam Blyth, who wanted to offer an £800,000 personal loan guarantee for Johnson, during the period Sharp was applying to be BBC chair.
Sharp resigned on Friday after an investigation by the commissioner of public appointments that concluded Sharp broke the rules by failing to declare this link to the secret £800,000 loan, creating a “potential perceived conflict of interest”.
It is still not known who ultimately provided Johnson with the loan, which became public only after he left office.
Dimbleby said although it was unclear whether Sharp had misled or should have explained further about his involvement in the loan, the affair shows that a new way of appointing the BBC chair should be found.
Dimbleby also told the
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