Richard Sharp: Last News

The BBC’s appointment of Chair Richard Sharp “should not stand” and the process was “fatally flawed,” according to former Director General John Birt, who threw his weight behind the corporation over the Gary Lineker scandal.

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC raised concerns about the way the government was going about appointing its new Chairman before the controversial hire of Richard Sharp.

Senior BBC management has been accused of fostering a “toxic culture” from the “DG-down” in a letter criticizing the closure of its 99-year-old choir.

will return to his Match of the Day presenting duties after the BBC apologised for suspending him in an impartiality row that has rocked the corporation. Lineker got to keep his job but made no apology for his tweet comparing the language used to launch a small boats asylum policy with that used in 1930s Germany – and tweeted again about the plight of refugees within minutes of being reinstated.

EXCLUSIVE: Senior BBC journalists are furious at Gary Lineker’s “egregious” breach of impartiality rules after he compared UK government asylum policy to 1930s Nazi Germany.

BBC Chair Richard Sharp has been urged to resign by almost all the plus-1,000 respondents to a staff survey at the corporation as pressure ramps up following the Boris Johnson loan scandal.

EXCLUSIVE: When the British government launched its £500M ($601M) Film & TV Production Restart Scheme (PRS) in October 2020, independent producers breathed a sigh of relief. The scheme promised to kickstart film and TV production by offering cover for Covid-related costs that was necessary to getting the cameras rolling again.

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An SNP MP has called for the BBC chair to resign over facilitating a loan for former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

BBC chairman Richard Sharp undermined public trust in the BBC and more widely the public appointments system with his failure to reveal he had been involved in arranging a loan of £800,000 for then UK prime minister Boris Johnson, politicians have concluded in a damning report published today. 

“I have never given Boris Johnson financial advice and know nothing about his affairs,” BBC Chair Richard Sharp declared this morning repeatedly of his relationship with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sharp also revealed he was working in Johnson’s Downing Street Home in the months leading up to applying for the BBC Chair role.

The SNP has challenged Rishi Sunak to remove the Conservative party whip from Boris Johnson over the former prime minister's dealings with the chairman of the BBC.

BBC Chair Richard Sharp has asked the BBC Board to review conflicts of interest regarding his appointment in the wake of the Boris Johnson loan scandal that broke over the weekend.

BBC Chairman Richard Sharp helped to arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800,000 ($990,000) for Boris Johnson weeks before the then-prime minister recommended him for the role at the broadcaster, according to a new report.

Former Fox Television Chair and CEO Gary Newman has joined the BBC Commercial Board along with UK TV vet Claire Hungate, while Damon Buffini has been upped to Deputy Chair of the BBC Board.

K.J. Yossman As the BBC celebrates its one hundredth anniversary today (Oct. 18), the broadcaster’s top executives have paid tribute. “The BBC is one hundred today – it’s a time to celebrate, but also to embrace the future,” said BBC chairman Richard Sharp. “I believe its best days are ahead. We have always innovated, changed and adapted. Our path has always been guided by the needs of audiences. We are just as mindful of that today as we have always been. By continuing to put the public first, we will continue to inform, educate and entertain for another century.” BBC director-general Tim Davie added: “With the BBC reaching the milestone of 100 years, our mission to inform, educate, and entertain, has never been more relevant or needed. For a century, the BBC has been a beacon of trusted news and programming across the world, as well as being part of the fabric of the U.K. and one of its key institutions. It has been a story of a devotion to public service and constant reinvention – which those in the BBC today remain utterly committed to. We exist to serve the public – doing that will guide the next 100 years.”

BBC Chair Richard Sharp has said MacTaggart lecturer Emily Maitlis was “completely wrong” to say due process was not followed after her now-infamous Dominic Cummings Newsnight rant.

K.J. Yossman The U.K.’s cross-party DCMS Committee, which scrutinizes the spending, policies and administration of the government Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, is set to interrogate BBC bosses on impartiality, the license fee and earnings. The committee, which is chaired by Julian Knight, is set to convene on Tuesday, Sept. 6 to question BBC director general Tim Davie, BBC chair Richard Sharp and BBC COO Leigh Tavaziva. They will ask questions on topics including how the corporation “plans to remain relevant and effective in the modern media landscape,” “how the BBC’s offering is impacted by a more polarised political atmosphere” and the future of the license fee in light of soaring inflation rates.

BBC Chair Richard Sharp said he has U-turned on feeling the BBC was “bloated, self important and heard too much of its own voice” when he took the job on two years ago.

The UK government has officially launched the mid-term Charter Review into the BBC, with a focus on whether the corporation is representing people from working class backgrounds.

BBC bosses have for the first time indicated they may be open to a change in the corporation’s funding model after 2027.