new chair of the bbc injanuary 2021. he was chosen by the culture secretary and the prime minister, then borisjohnson. the sunday times is claiming that, weeks before, he had helped mrjohnson get access to a loan of up to £800,000 by putting the country s most senior civil servant in touch with a distant relative of the prime minister, who had proposed acting as a guarantor. mr sharp has confirmed he connected the two men, but says there was no conflict because he had no further involvement. the paper says he didn t declare the role he had played during his application for the bbcjob. labour believes mr johnson should have declared the arrangements on his register of interests. his party chair, anneliese dodds, has asked the parliamentary watchdogs who investigate. in her letter, she said that a lack of transparency may give the impression that this was a quid pro quo arrangement, something which would undermine the integrity of the democratic process and calls into question the proce
he said. let s get more on those reports that the chairman of the bbc, richard sharp, helped to arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to $990,000 weeks before the then prime minister borisjohnson recommended him for the role. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blakejoins me now. plenty of political news out there today. took me through what the sunday times is reporting and what those involved have had to say. richard sharp was appointed as chairman of the bbc injanuary 2021. chairman of the bbc in january 2021. it is a role chosen jointly between the prime minister of the day and the prime minister of the day and the culture secretary in government, and the sunday times is reporting today that, weeks before that appointment, richard sharp, along a friend of the former prime minister borisjohnson, helped him get access to a loan of up to £800,000, and he
a spokesman for mrjohnson said. the bbc said it had no role in the recruitment of the chair, and any questions were a matter for the government which has not yet responded to our request for comment. helen catt, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake has more. richard sharp was appointed as chairman of the bbc injanuary 2021. it is a role chosen jointly between the prime minister of the day and the culture secretary in government, and the sunday times is reporting today that, weeks before that appointment, richard sharp, along with a friend of the former prime minister boris johnson, helped him get access to a loan of up to £800,000, and he
the bbc chairman denies any conflict of interest. a spokesman for mrjohnson said he had never sought, or received, financial advice from mr sharp. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake has more. richard sharp was appointed as chairman of the bbc injanuary 2021. it is a role chosen jointly between the prime minister of the day and the culture secretary in government, and the sunday times is reporting today that, weeks before that appointment, richard sharp, long a friend of the former prime minister borisjohnson, helped him get access to a loan of up to £800,000, and he did that through meeting with a distant cousin of mrjohnson, a wealthy canadian businessman, called sam blyth, who was proposing to act as a guarantor for that loan. he was later put in touch by richard sharp with the cabinet secretary, the most senior official in government, simon case. that, as far as richard sharp is saying in a short statement he s issued, is the end of it. he simply connected individuals.
as chairman of the bbc, richard sharp is responsible for upholding and protecting the broadcaster s independence. he was appointed injanuary 2021 by then prime minister borisjohnson and the culture secretary at the time. the sunday times reports that before that, mr sharp had helped borisjohnson get access to a loan of up to £800,000 by putting a wealthy distant relative of the former prime minister, sam blythe, in touch with the most senior government official, cabinet secretary simon case. the report claims he did not declare this during his application to the bbc, but in a statement, mr sharp denied any conflict of interest, saying. this morning, the foreign secretary defended richard sharp s appointment. i know that he is an incredibly accomplished, incredibly