A former top executive at the BBC, Roger Mosey, says Sharp's departure is "right and inevitable."

“If you’re chair of the BBC, you are the person insisting on the highest standards for the corporation,” Mosey tells 5Live's Nicky Campbell. "It’s pretty tough to do that if you are judged not to have followed the best possible processes when being appointed to the job.

“You saw during the Gary Lineker affair, which was a major impartiality controversy, that you cannot manage top talent and insist they stick by the rules when you’re compromised yourself and defending your own position."

Mosey, former head of BBC TV News and director of sport, goes on to say that he believes there should be an impartial appointments process to choose a chairman who best represents licence fee payers.

Image source, PA Media

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey says: "The British people won't stand for any more of this.

"Everything Conservative politicians touch turns into a mess. They are not fit to govern our great country."

He goes on to says that Johnson "should never have been allowed to appoint Richard Sharp in the first place" and that Sunak should have sacked him already.

Image source, EPA

Lucy Frazer, secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, has written to Richard Sharp, saying she understands and respects his decision.

She writes: "The BBC is a great national institution. Over the past 100 years it has touched the lives of almost everyone in the United Kingdom and plays a unique part in our cultural heritage. It is respected globally, reaching hundreds of millions of people across the world.

She ends by says the government will now "move to launch a process to identify and appoint a permanent new Chair".

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

A Downing Street source said there had been "an independent process" and that Richard Sharp's decision to step down was "a matter for him and the BBC".

Image source, Getty Images

We've got some political reaction from Labour for you now, with shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell saying Sharp's breach of the rules has caused "untold damage" to the reputation of the BBC.

She says the BBC's independence has been "seriously undermined... as a result of the Conservatives’ sleaze and cronyism".

Powell continues: "This comes after 13 years of the Tories doing everything they can to defend themselves and their mates.

"From Owen Patterson to Dominic Raab, and now Richard Sharp, instead of doing what’s best for the country the Prime Minister was more interested in defending his old banking boss.

"The Prime Minister should have sacked him weeks ago.

"Instead it took this investigation, called by Labour, to make him resign.

The BBC's former Controller of Editorial Policy, Richard Ayre, said Sharp's resignation and these findings are not about what he's done in the role as BBC chairman.

Rather, Ayre says it is about "the integrity and transparency" around Sharp's application and what he was doing at the time in terms of conversations with Boris Johnson and the Canadian millionaire Sam Blyth, who Sharp agreed to put in touch with the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.

Ayre explains that when every BBC chair candidate is going through the recruitment process, it is "crystal clear" they have to fill in a conflict of interests form.

This includes whether any favours might have been made - this is where Ayre believes Sharp fell short.

"Meaningfully or not he had done a favour. He didn’t declare that to the assessment panel.

"This is an issue of transparency and integrity.

"That’s why he had to go."

The BBC's director general Tim Davie has thanked Sharp "for his service to the BBC and the drive and intellect he brought to his time as chairman".

"Working with him over the last two years has been rewarding and Richard has made a significant contribution to the transformation and success of the BBC.

"The focus for all of us at the BBC is continuing the hard work to ensure we deliver for audiences, both now and in the future."

Adam Heppinstall's report also says the two breaches may have created a "risk of a perception that Sharp would not be independent from the former prime minister, if appointed".

But the barrister does not make a finding on whether Sharp "had any intention of seeking to influence" Boris Johnson by informing him of his intention to apply for the role of BBC chairman and offering to introduce the then-PM to the Canadian millionaire Sam Blyth.

"I cannot and do not judge his independence in office," he writes.

We're looking at the Commissioner for Public Appointments' report in full now, which has found two non-disclosures by Richard Sharp during the application process for his BBC chairman role breached the governance code for public appointments.

Adam Heppinstall KC says Sharp failed to disclose two "potential perceived conflicts of interest" to the panel that interviewed him.

1) Sharp informed then Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he "wished to apply to be chair of the BBC board, before he made his application in November 2020".

2) Sharp told Johnson, before he was interviewed, that he was going to make the introduction between Sam Blyth and the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, with Blyth having suggested he might be able to "assist the former prime minister with his personal finances".

The BBC board has described Richard Sharp as a "person of integrity" and a "very effective chairman of the BBC" as it reacted to his resignation.

“We accept and understand Richard’s decision to stand down. We want to put on record our thanks to Richard, who has been a valued and respected colleague, and a very effective chairman of the BBC. The BBC board believes that Richard Sharp is a person of integrity."

The statement continued that Sharp had a been a "real advocate for the BBC, its mission, and why the corporation is a priceless asset for the country, at home and abroad".

Lineker firestorm may have spelled end for Sharppublished at 10:09 British Summer Time 28 April 2023

10:09 BST 28 April 2023

Katie Razzall
Culture editor

Since the Sunday Times broke this story in January, it has felt as if - at some point - we would end up here, with Richard Sharp’s departing the BBC.

The chairman lost the narrative early on. He will blame some of that on misreporting of the facts.

But it felt impossible for him to remain in the role, when there had been such criticism, not least by the DCMS Committee of MPs which was involved in approving his appointment.

In the end, perceptions matter.

Richard Sharp has not been able to be an effective chairman for the BBC, in public at least.

The Gary Lineker firestorm proved that. With the BBC facing its most testing of times, Richard Sharp was unable to come out publicly and support the director general, because of the controversy surrounding him.

Impartiality is at the cornerstone of the BBC’s strategy, yet Richard Sharp’s own impartiality has been called into question.

The past months have damaged the BBC, and in the end, by resigning, Richard Sharp has acknowledged that. Others will be asking why he didn’t go much sooner.

Speaking about his subsequent interview with the appointments panel ahead of his appointment as BBC chairman, Sharp says: “I wish, with the benefit of hindsight, this potential perceived conflict of interest was something I had considered to mention.

“I would like once again to apologise for that oversight – inadvertent though it was – and for the distraction these events have caused the BBC."

He states that he is “pleased” that in Adam Heppinstall KC’s report he concludes that Sharp’s “involvement in these matters was accordingly ‘very limited’” and he says “no evidence” was found to suggest that Sharp “played any part whatsoever in the facilitation, arrangement, or financing of a loan for the former Prime Minister”.

More from Sharp’s resignation statement.

Sharp says when he introduced businessman Sam Blyth to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case in December 2020 - referring to the loan discussion concerning former Prime Minister Boris Johnson - he did so “in good faith” and with “the best of intentions”.

“I did so with the sole purpose of ensuring that all relevant rules were being followed,” he says.

During his conversation with Case, he says: “I reminded him of the fact that I was in the BBC appointment process.

“I believed, as a result of that conversation, that I had been removed from any conflict or perception of conflict.

“I understood this recusal to be absolute. This was my error.”

The full report into Richard Sharp's appointment has been published by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

We'll be going through barrister Adam Hepinstall KC's full report on this page to bring you all the key details, so stick with us.

If you'd like to read it in full, it's available here, external.

Richard Sharp has announced his resignation as chairman of the BBC after a report found he breached the code on public appointments.

In a statement given before the publication of the report, Sharp said Adam Heppinstall KC, who led the inquiry, had concluded “that while I did breach the governance code for public appointments, he states that a breach does not necessarily invalidate an appointment".

Sharp continued: "Indeed, I have always maintained the breach was inadvertent and not material, which the facts he lays out substantiate."

Nevertheless, Sharp said he was resigning to “prioritise the interests of the BBC”.

He said he would remain in post until the end of June while the process to appoint his successor took place.

The report by the Commissioner for Public Appointments has also just been published.

We’re going through that now and will bring you more from the report and Sharp’s statement.

We are still waiting for the report to be published, but a short while ago Boris Johnson was asked whether he knew what was in it.

The former prime minister was questioned by reporters in London as he got into a car - but gave little away.

Labour's shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh has just told Sky News that Sharp "will have to go" if the upcoming report says he "failed to declare the details of this loan arrangement properly or failed to be forthcoming in the process".

She went on to say it was "concerning to see how the government has sat back and done very little about the potential breaches in the process".

Sharp has denied having any part in arranging the loan for former PM Boris Johnson or any conflict of interest with his appointment as BBC chairman.

The report is expected to be released imminently, so stay with us for updates.

Image source, PA

Richard Sharp's position came under further scrutiny in March following Gary Lineker's suspension over a tweet criticising government asylum policy, a decision which triggered a wider row about BBC impartiality.

Critics of the BBC's handling of the episode contrasted Lineker's suspension with how allegations against Sharp were dealt with, pointing out the chair was able to remain in post despite ongoing investigations.

The BBC was accused of "caving in" to pressure from the government by Labour leader Keir Starmer, after Downing Street and numerous senior ministers weighed in to criticise Lineker. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey claimed the suspension had demonstrated "failure at the very top of the BBC" and called on Sharp to step down in order to protect the broadcaster's independence.

Former senior BBC officials also spoke out during the Lineker row and called for Sharp to go, including Roger Mosey, a former head of BBC TV news, who said the chair was damaging the corporation's credibility.

Read more here.

Richard Sharp’s career, relationships and politics have been under the spotlight - so let’s take a look at the BBC chairman’s CV.

The former banker began his 40-year finance career at investment bank JP Morgan.

He later worked at Goldman Sachs, where one of his closest relationships was with a young Rishi Sunak (who of course hadn’t entered politics back then).

Years later, Sharp went on to work for his old mentee Sunak while he was chancellor, helping the government at the beginning of the pandemic.

Sharp has previously said he is "considered to be a Brexiteer". He's donated around £400,000 to the Conservative Party over the past two decades.

Outside of traditional party politics, Sharp served for many years as a member of the Bank of England's financial policy committee and previously sat on the board of the conservative think-tank, the Centre for Policy Studies.

Read more about him here.

For those of you trying to get your head around this complex story, here’s a summary.

A review into Richard Sharp's appointment has been tasked with investigating whether he failed to disclose details of his involvement in the facilitation of a guarantee for an £800,000 personal loan to the former prime minister, Boris Johnson.

Sharp has denied involvement in the arrangement, or the existence of a conflict of interest.

But he has previously accepted setting up a meeting between the head of the civil service and millionaire Sam Blyth - a distant cousin of Johnson’s who had offered to provide him financial assistance in late 2020.

Sharp, an ex-investment banker and Conservative Party donor, had already applied to be BBC chairman at the time of that meeting.

He was named as the government's preferred candidate in January 2021 and took up the chairmanship a month later, but this was called into question when reports around the loan surfaced in the Sunday Times in January.

Since then, Sharp has faced calls from opposition parties and former senior BBC figures to step down.

The review is being led by Adam Heppinstall KC - a barrister who does not hold any public post.

The commissioner of public appointments originally tasked with the review, William Shawcross, stood aside because he had met Sharp on previous occasions.