BBC chair concedes he acted as a sort of ‘introduction agency’ over £800k loan for Boris Johnson

The chair of the BBC conceded he acted as a sort of “introduction agency” over an £800,000 loan to Boris Johnson but declined to say if he would resign if criticised by an official inquiry.

Mr Sharp denied he had facilitated the loan for the then-prime minister, who later backed his appointment to lead the broadcaster.

He admitted he went to see Mr Johnson to discuss the job before he applied, although he insisted their relationship was “broadly professional”.

In an at-times brutal grilling by MPs on the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, Mr Sharp insisted that he “didn’t arrange the loan”.

He did admit, however, that introduced his friend Sam Blyth to the cabinet secretary Simon Case after Mr Blyth suggested he could ease the prime minister’s money woes.

Mr Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker, also said he regretted causing “embarrassment for the BBC”.

But he declined to say he would resign if a probe into the affair was critical of his actions.

He told MPs he would “need to see what the inquiry produces” and insisted he was “subject to a very rigorous interview process” and was hired “on merit”.

Mr Sharp had appeared before the committee before he became BBC chair.

But he was hauled in front of them again after details of his involvement in the loan emerged.

Before the session began its chair Damian Green told Politico: “We will want to establish whether we were right to approve his appointment, and whether anything we should have known was kept from us.”

During the hearing, Mr Sharp agreed with Mr Green that he had “acted as a sort of introduction agency” between Mr Blyth and Mr Case. “I was actually seeking to ensure that due process was followed by ensuring that Mr Blyth had contact with the Cabinet Office before he would do anything to help his cousin,” he added.

He said he did not provide the former prime minister with personal financial advice adding “I know nothing about his (financial) affairs, I never have done”.

He was accused by Labour MP Kevin Brennan of a “monumental failure of judgment” in not telling the committee about the arrangement at his pre-appointment hearing last January.

Mr Sharp insisted that he “acted in good faith to ensure that the rules were followed and in that sense, I have no regret for that”.

The current prime minister Rishi Sunak said Mr Sharp’s appointment appears to have been carried out “rigorously and transparently”.

But he added: “It is right that people have confidence in the process and that’s why the independent commissioner on public appointments is relooking at the process to make sure that everything was done correctly.”

Public appointments commissioner William Shawcross had been due to investigate how Mr Sharp got the job, but recused himself last week, saying the pair had met "on previous occasions".

Lawyer Adam Heppinstall KC has now been appointed to lead the investigation.