OVER AND OUT

BBC Chairman Resigns in Boris Johnson Loan Uproar

The Tory donor had been under pressure for months.

BBC Chairman Richard Sharp announced his resignation Friday after an investigation into the circumstances of his appointment. Sharp, a Conservative Party donor, had come under fire after it emerged that in late 2020 he had helped former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson secure a loan worth almost $1 million before being appointed as the boss of Britain’s national broadcaster. His discussions with Johnson were not declared to the appointments panel before Sharp ultimately secured the job in February 2021. The investigation found that Sharp’s failure to make two disclosures had breached the U.K. government’s governance code for public appointments. In his resignation letter, Sharp said he “maintained the breach was inadvertent and not material” but that he had “decided that it is right to [prioritize] the interests of the BBC” and stand down because the matter had become “a distraction from the [BBC’s] good work.”