Monitoring Desk
Richard Sharp, who has been the BBC’s chairman since February 2021, has recently been in the spotlight after Sunday Times said that he, as a banker, assisted former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in securing a loan guarantee arrangement just before being hired by the British broadcaster.
As chairman of the BBC’s board, Sharp is responsible for defending and protecting the BBC’s independence. The 66-year-old, a former banker, makes £160,000 a year in this role, which he previously agreed to donate to charity.
However, since a Sunday Times investigation claimed that Sharp assisted Johnson in securing the loan, his nomination has come under scrutiny. The conflict of interest is denied by both men, and Sharp claims to have “just connected” people.
The Sunday Times said that Sharp was allegedly involved in discussions about a loan worth up to £800,000 for Johnson in 2020.
The BBC said that a board will review any potential conflicts of interest Sharp may have amid scrutiny over his links with the former UK premier.
However, Sharp claimed that he had not been involved in arranging the loan, calling it a distraction for the broadcaster, which he regretted.
In a statement released after the Sunday Times published an article regarding his loan agreement, Johnson said that Sharp and he had known each other for almost 20 years.
Labor urges watchdog to probe Johnson loan claims
Sharp spent a part of his childhood in the US, began his 40-year career in banking with a position at JP Morgan, followed by a lengthy and extremely illustrious career with the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
When a young Mark Carney, the future governor of the Bank of England, was employed at the bank, he was a senior official there. When Carney, as governor, warned about the potential economic dangers of Brexit, this relationship took on a certain poignancy. Sharp, who was a silent Brexit supporter, disagreed with some of Carney’s predictions because he believed that there were more prospects outside of the European Union.
Sharp ultimately became the chairman of Goldman’s European Principal Investment, advising partners on their investments as opposed to engaging in trade. At Goldman, Sharp had a good friendship with a young man by the name of Rishi Sunak. Sharp, a significant supporter of the Conservative Party and a member of the Centre for Policy Studies board, told a friend that Sunak was the best young financial analyst he had ever seen. When Sunak become chancellor, Sharp continued to work for him and assisted the government by making loans to businesses at the start of the pandemic.
Amol Rajan, a BBC journalist, claimed that Sunak was only mildly annoyed at losing such a close ally at such a critical moment but was eventually convinced of Sharp’s qualities in taking on his new position at the BBC.
