London: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) chairman Richard Sharp on Friday announced his resignation after an inquiry found he had breached rules for failing to declare his involvement in arranging a £800,000 ($1 million) loan for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, reported AFP.
The British government has been accused of seeking to muzzle the publicly-funded BBC for long.
The appointment of Sharp, who reportedly made hefty donations to the Conservative Party, was criticised by Opposition parties when he was appointed BBC chairman in February 2021.
Sharp denied any wrongdoing but said he was stepping down to avoid becoming ‘a distraction’ from the Corporation’s good work.
“I feel that this matter may well be a distraction from the Corporation’s good work if I were to remain in post until the end of my term,” said Sharp, who was once incumbent PM Rishi Sunak’s boss at Goldman Sachs.
However, Sharp’s close ties with the ruling Conservative party was already a distracting controversy for BBC and the government.
Those ties were raised by critics last month when BBC suspended former England football star Gary Lineker from its popular football highlights show.
Lineker had taken to social media to accuse the Sunak government of using Nazi-era rhetoric in promoting its hardline immigration policies.
Lineker had to be reinstated by the BBC Board after other presenters protested and refused to work.
Following Sharp’s resignation, Lineker said the government should not get to choose the BBC chair. “Not now, not ever,” he tweeted.
Sunak, however, refused to rule out another political appointee, saying that he would not “prejudge” the recruitment process.
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