BBC chair calls for board to re-establish confidence at broadcaster

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The new acting chair of the BBC has said the board needs to stand behind its creative output as the broadcaster re-establishes “the confidence and the ambition” after the departure of previous chair Richard Sharp.

On her first day as acting chair, Dame Elan Closs Stephens told BBC staff there was “no doubt that we’ve gone through a difficult period of time” that had “unnerved” those who worked at the corporation.

She added the broadcaster now needed “to re-establish the confidence and the ambition in [the BBC’s] output and to know that the board is fully behind the creativity of the organisation”.

Sharp resigned from the BBC board in April after an investigation ordered by the commissioner for public appointments concluded he had breached public appointment rules by failing to declare his early involvement in providing help to Boris Johnson that led to the former prime minister securing an £800,000 loan, creating a “potential perceived conflict of interest”.

A subsequent review by the BBC board’s nominations committee also found Sharp had breached its code of practice by failing to disclose the discussions relating to a “possible loan by a third party” to the then prime minister.

Sharp said in his resignation speech that his continued presence at the BBC had become a potential “distraction” but denied any wrongdoing given that he had neither facilitated nor arranged any financing.

The findings of the review fuelled calls to make the BBC chair a non-political appointment after criticism both inside and outside the broadcaster that its leadership had become too close to the Conservative government. Sharp, who had worked at Goldman Sachs, was also a former Conservative party donor.

In a Q&A with BBC presenter Tina Daheley that was shared with staff, Closs Stephens said the government needed to conduct a thorough and transparent search for its new permanent chair using external headhunters. 

She added that the board saw the need to make the search as wide as possible to ensure as “diverse a field as possible and that there should be some really very strong candidates from all walks of life if we can”.

The investigation, which was carried out by Adam Heppinstall KC, was critical of the application process because of Johnson’s clear support for Sharp during the independent recruitment process for the job.

Closs Stephens is seen by BBC insiders as unlikely to apply to become the permanent chair. She added: “It’s not a time for standing still. Although the period in which I’m going to be chair is quite short, we need to get on with the job.”