LONDON: BBC Chairman Richard Sharp resigned on Friday after an independent report found he breached rules by not disclosing a potential conflict of interest in his role in securing a $1 million loan for the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson.

His exit amid a cronyism row comes at a time of heightened political scrutiny of the publicly-funded British broadcaster’s impartiality. A row with high profile presenter Gary Lineker over tweets criticising government policy dominated national headlines last month.

Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker and donor to the governing Conservative Party, was made chairman in 2021. But he has been under pressure since February wh­en a committee of lawmakers said he had made “significant err­ors of judgement” in failing to dec­­lare his involvement in the loan.

Sharp agreed to stay on until the end of June while the government searches for a replacement. While the government appoints the chairman of the BBC, the broadcaster’s independence from government is what helps make it a central presence in British cultural life.

The opposition Labour Party’s culture spokeswoman Lucy Powell said the Conservative government’s “sleaze and cronyism” had damaged the BBC’s reputation and “a truly independent and robust process” was needed to appoint Sharp’s successor.

Asked by reporters whether that replacement should be a non-political appointment, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who worked with Sharp at Goldman Sachs, said: “There’s an established appointments process for all these things and it will be right that we turn to that when the time is right.”

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023