Four things we learnt from Richard Sharp’s BBC grilling

This morning Richard Sharp, the BBC’s Chairman, appeared before the Culture select committee of MPs. It was a difficult session for Sharp as the panel focused on reports that he helped Boris Johnson secure a loan, weeks before the then-prime minister recommended him for the role. Johnson has denied that Sharp had given him such advice. John Nicholson of the SNP and Labour’s Kevin Brennan led the way on grilling Sharp about whether he had breached any conflict of interest rules. Below are four things we learned from his testimony.

Sharp insists he did not given Johnson financial advice

Boris Johnson has said he is ‘ding dang sure’ that Sharp did not give him advice about his finances – and the former Goldman banker concurred in his evidence today. This, however is not something he was accused of doing, in the original Sunday Times report about Sharp’s links to Johnson. The original story focused on Sharp’s involvement in an £800,000 loan – and here the BBC Chairman was firm, insisting that he did not need to declare his links because there was no conflict of interest.