Given his predicament, Sharp has much to gain from defending the corporation – and the connections to do it effectively
The affair of Sam Blyth helping to secure a loan of up to £800,000 for Boris Johnson has left Richard Sharp, the BBC chair, badly wounded. Assuming he survives, his reputation will depend on his defending the corporation to the death against its enemies – particularly those on the right. He was a friend of Johnson, was Rishi Sunak’s boss at Goldman Sachs, and has given generously to the Tory party. He is perfectly cast as the champion in high places the BBC needs.
At each stage in the loan saga, individuals behaved like suspects in an Agatha Christie novel. Each carefully distanced themselves from the scene of crime. When a healthcare company in which Sharp held a major stake won a Covid contract while he was a Downing Street adviser, he was no longer on the board.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
