Calls to investigate Boris Johnson's role in Sharp appointment
Boris Johnson’s role in the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC chair should be examined, the former commissioner for public appointments says.
The former prime minister “himself was conflicted” in the process, according to Sir Peter Riddell, who also said questions remain about the loan made to him.
Johnson recommended Sharp for the influential job after the latter informed him he would be telling the cabinet secretary about his friend Sam Blyth’s offer to help the then-prime minister with his financial troubles. Riddell, who was the commissioner when Sharp took on the BBC role, said Johnson’s role “hasn’t really been discussed enough” because it was outside the remit of the inquiry. He has told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:
[Johnson] himself was conflicted … Should he have recused himself from the appointment, given he knew about Richard Sharp helping him out on this loan?
Questions remained about “conflicts involving Boris Johnson’s role and about who made the loan to him”, Riddell wrote on Twitter.
As former Commissioner for Public Appointments at time of Richard Sharp appointment I think Adam Heppinstall KC report is fair and balanced but big questions remain, outside his remit, about conflicts involving Boris Johnson’s role and about who made the loan to him.
He also noted the “curiously murky” exchanges between Sharp and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, and questioned whether the Cabinet Office should have told colleagues in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport scrutinising Sharp’s appointment about “what was happening with the private finances”.
Johnson has declined to comment on the inquiry’s findings.
The BBC chair Richard Sharp stood down after a report found he had breached the rules on public appointments. Sharp, who told Boris Johnson he wanted the job and whom the former prime minister backed, failed to declare his connection to a secret £800,000 loan made to Johnson.
There were calls to investigate Johnson himself over the matter. The report’s author was careful to stress that looking into the former prime minister’s role was not within his remit. That led the former commissioner for public appointments Sir Peter Riddel to call for further investigation, claiming Johnson “himself was conflicted” in the process.
The prime minister Rishi Sunak refused to rule out the appointment of another Tory donor to replace Sharp at the BBC. Asked if he could make the pledge, he said: “There’s an appointments process that happens for those appointments. I’m not going to prejudge that.”
A major health union accepted the government’s improved pay offer for NHS staff. GMB members working in the NHS in England voted by 56% to 44% to accept the deal that all 12 health unions hammered out last month with the health secretary, Steve Barclay. Unite members rejected the deal.
The ultra-conservative US presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis was hosted in the UK by the foreign secretary James Cleverly. The Florida governor is seeking to burnish his credentials ahead of a possible run against Donald Trump to be the Republican choice in the race for the White House.
We reported earlier on No 10’s attempts to keep journalists out of a selective press briefing with the prime minister (see 12.44pm).
Our Scotland editor, Severin Carrell,reports that the Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, has condemned the spectacle, saying:
It was unnecessary. It shouldn’t have happened… I’ll be making the strongest possible representations to No 10 about it.
I’m acutely aware of how it looks and how it’s wrong [and] I can only act on my behalf and that’s what I’m gonna take every single one of your questions this afternoon.
@Douglas4Moray condemns No 10 press control debacle: “It was unnecessary. It shouldn't have happened… I’ll be making the strongest possible representations to No 10 about it” #SCC23@10DowningStreet@RishiSunak
Ross: “I'm acutely aware of how it looks and how it's wrong [and] I can only act on my behalf and that's what I'm gonna take every single one of your questions this afternoon.”
A major health union has accepted the government’s improved pay offer for NHS staff, in a move that could split unions over whether to keep on striking for more money.
GMB members working in the NHS in England have voted by 56% to 44% to accept the deal that all 12 health unions hammered out last month with the health secretary, Steve Barclay.
That means two major NHS-related unions have accepted the deal – Unison has already done so – as have unions representing midwives and physiotherapists. However, two other major unions – Unite and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) – have rejected it, as have those representing podiatrists and radiographers.
Calls to investigate Boris Johnson's role in Sharp appointment
Boris Johnson’s role in the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC chair should be examined, the former commissioner for public appointments says.
The former prime minister “himself was conflicted” in the process, according to Sir Peter Riddell, who also said questions remain about the loan made to him.
Johnson recommended Sharp for the influential job after the latter informed him he would be telling the cabinet secretary about his friend Sam Blyth’s offer to help the then-prime minister with his financial troubles. Riddell, who was the commissioner when Sharp took on the BBC role, said Johnson’s role “hasn’t really been discussed enough” because it was outside the remit of the inquiry. He has told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:
[Johnson] himself was conflicted … Should he have recused himself from the appointment, given he knew about Richard Sharp helping him out on this loan?
Questions remained about “conflicts involving Boris Johnson’s role and about who made the loan to him”, Riddell wrote on Twitter.
As former Commissioner for Public Appointments at time of Richard Sharp appointment I think Adam Heppinstall KC report is fair and balanced but big questions remain, outside his remit, about conflicts involving Boris Johnson’s role and about who made the loan to him.
He also noted the “curiously murky” exchanges between Sharp and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, and questioned whether the Cabinet Office should have told colleagues in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport scrutinising Sharp’s appointment about “what was happening with the private finances”.
Johnson has declined to comment on the inquiry’s findings.
Rishi Sunak has ruled out any further devolution of powers for Scotland after telling Conservative activists that Holyrood should be “held to account” more for underusing its existing powers.
The prime minister claimed Holyrood already had significant powers, including over income tax rates, telling delegates at the Scottish Conservatives’ annual conference in Glasgow there was therefore no case for adding to them.
“Scotland already is the most powerful devolved assembly anywhere in the world,” he said during a question-and-answer session chaired by Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader.
The SNP and the Scottish government doesn’t even use the powers they already have, so we shouldn’t start talking about any more. What we need to do is hold them to account.
His remarks suggest there will be an intense contest between Labour and the Conservatives over Scotland’s powers at the next general election, which could further divide the anti-independence vote in Scotland.
This from Gabriel Pogrund of the Sunday Times, who broke the story of how Richard Sharp was appointed BBC chair weeks after helping Boris Johnson secure a loan of up to £800,000.
So Case took no minutes of his meeting with Sharp. He never declared it publicly. He failed to tell anyone involved in the BBC appointment. And, having initially indicated Sharp flagged his BBC candidacy, now the position is unclear. He can't recall / his notes don't say. https://t.co/zJJ9zHsQGN
According to Greg Hands, the Conservative chair, Scotland will be a key battleground in the next general election.
Addressing the Scottish Conservative conference in Glasgow, Hands said: “Make no mistake, Scotland is going to be a key battleground of ours in the next UK election.
“It could be that Scotland is the deciding factor in that election, whether we have a full term of Rishi Sunak or something else under Sir Keir Starmer.
“With the SNP now weakened, their nationalist agenda lying in tatters and their whole attack having been exposed as almost unbelievably shallow, now is our moment.
“It is a travesty the way this SNP government has failed Scotland.
“But we in the Conservative party have a vision of hope and we have a vision to see Scotland and the whole of our great United Kingdom prosper with Rishi Sunak’s five priorities: to halve inflation, to grow the economy, create better-paid jobs across the UK, to reduce our national debt, to cut the NHS waiting, and stopping the boats run by criminal gangs of human traffickers.”
However, he warned Tory members that with a number of seats “on a knife-edge”, the party will “need every vote we can muster”.
Humza Yousaf, the first minister and SNP leader, has already said another independence referendum would be his price for supporting Labour at Westminster, and Hands said the Tories therefore “need to show a vote for the SNP is a vote for more chaos, not just in Scotland but potentially at the UK level as well”.
He said: “We need to make our case clearly and persuade voters it is our party, the Scottish Conservatives, that is the only party that can beat the SNP in those seats.”
Labour has said that all British residents in Sudan should qualify for evacuation, with Downing Street so far rejecting calls to widen the eligibility for evacuation beyond British passport holders and their immediate family.
PA reports:
Concerns have been raised that the current approach could see families split up or some members left behind, with Labour calling on ministers to use the longer window to extend eligibility for evacuation before it is “too late”.
The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: “It cannot be right that NHS doctors and other British residents who worked to protect us throughout the pandemic are being denied the chance to evacuate from the conflict gripping Sudan.
“At the same time, British nationals remain stuck as the government refuses to evacuate their dependent, immediate family members.”
As of Thursday evening, the RAF had airlifted nearly 900 people from an airfield near the capital, Khartoum.
“We do not underestimate the scale of the challenge faced by Britain’s brave armed forces and FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] officials who are working around the clock, but the three-day extension to the ceasefire offers an opportunity to get more people to safety while the airlift is ongoing and there is capacity,” Lammy said.
You can follow the latest from Sudan on our dedicated live blog:
PA has this report on calls to examine the role of Boris Johnson – then prime minister – in the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC chair:
Boris Johnson’s role in the appointment of Richard Sharp as BBC chairman should be examined, the former commissioner for public appointments has said.
Sir Peter Riddell, who was the commissioner when Sharp took on the job, said the former prime minister’s role “hasn’t really been discussed enough” because it was outside the remit of Adam Heppinstall KC’s inquiry.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “He himself was conflicted … Should he have recused himself from the appointment given he knew about Richard Sharp helping him out on this loan?
“Should someone in the Cabinet Office have told their colleagues in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport about what was happening with the private finances?”
The BBC chair, Richard Sharp, has resigned after being found to have breached public appointment rules for failing to declare a connection to a secret £800,000 loan for the UK’s former prime minister Boris Johnson.
Sharp intends to step down in June.
The government will be able to select a new BBC chair on a four-year term, depriving a potential Labour government of making its own appointment until mid-2027.
The government can rapidly appoint one of the BBC’s other non-executive directors as acting chair.
They include the broadcaster Muriel Gray, financier Damon Buffini, or Robbie Gibb, a board member who was previously Theresa May’s communications chief and has pushed a pro-Conservative agenda within the BBC.
The corporation’s board has no powers to block or oust a BBC chair. Only in extreme circumstances can the BBC chair be forcibly removed if ministers conclude they are “unable, unfit or unwilling” to continue.
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