Richard Sharp Resignation: What We Learned From Today’s Report As Gov’t Urged To Review Conflict Of Interest Guidance

deadline.com:

The government has been urged by today’s report to “review current conflict of interest guidance for candidates to ensure it is fit for purpose” in the wake of BBC Chair Richard Sharp’s resignation.

Adam Heppinstall KC’s report into Sharp’s now-fateful involvement with Boris Johnson’s £800,000 ($1M) loan also found: A successor will now be sought over the next few weeks and Sharp will remain in post until June.

In the meantime, the government has been urged by Heppinstall’s report to initiate a “review of current conflict of interest guidance for candidates to ensure it is fit for purpose.” Elaborating, Heppinstall said the government should forge a new section of its guidance addressing relationships and interactions between candidates and appointing ministers, and how confidential or sensitive issues might be disclosed, all of which would have been appropriate in the Sharp case.

It stressed that candidates are already asked to disclose whether any conflict of interest could “cause potential embarrassment,” an issue that has repeatedly been flagged in the case of Sharp.