Also look up Sir Robbie Gibb, former head of the BBC's political programme output, who Emily Maitlis (BBC Newsnight presenter) described as "active agent of Tory Party".
Story in today's Times. (Updated with correct link, although now showing paywall).
----------------------------------
"The BBC chairman, the prime minister and the £800,000 loan guarantee
"The BBC chairman helped to arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800,000 for Boris Johnson weeks before the then prime minister recommended him for the role.
"Richard Sharp was involved in talks about financing Johnson’s Downing Street lifestyle in November and December 2020. Sharp, 66, a former banker at Goldman Sachs, had already submitted his application to become chairman of the public service broadcaster and had reached the final stages of the recruitment process.
"Late in 2020, Johnson, 58, was in financial trouble as he faced divorce payments, childcare costs and bills for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. Sharp, a friend and former adviser to the politician who has given £400,000 to the Conservative Party, became involved that November after a dinner at the home of Sam Blyth, an old friend, in west London...."
(Boris Johnson didn't disclose Sharp’s involvement in the MPs’ register of interests, which says members must declare any benefit that could influence, or be perceived to influence, their public work. He also omitted it from his register of ministerial interests.)
(Richard Sharp didn't tell panel about financing the Prime Minister who appointed him as chair of the national broadcaster.)
How do they get away with this, somebody might wonder (not me though - it's fine!).
I should probably add that it's not the BBC in its entirety (and I'm certainly not anti-BBC) - in fact I gather that many prominent folk on the creative side of the BBC (non-political output) feel embarrassed by the recent high-level Tory politicisation. Ironically that's the side that Conservative figures (like Norman Tebbit!) always said had a "leftie" bias.
Here's another recent piece in the Guardian documenting how right-wing thinktanks have such a powerful say on BBC news output:
These 'dark money' think tanks are funded by the CIA as they have a 50 billion dollar budget every year.
They own 51% of CNN, FOX, CBS, Readers Digest, New York Times and other mainstream media outlets in the US and have fingers in many pies outside of their own country.
US invasion of Haiti imminent but will the BBC report it ?
Story in today's Times. (Updated with correct link, although now showing paywall).
----------------------------------
"The BBC chairman, the prime minister and the £800,000 loan guarantee
"The BBC chairman helped to arrange a guarantee on a loan of up to £800,000 for Boris Johnson weeks before the then prime minister recommended him for the role.
"Richard Sharp was involved in talks about financing Johnson’s Downing Street lifestyle in November and December 2020. Sharp, 66, a former banker at Goldman Sachs, had already submitted his application to become chairman of the public service broadcaster and had reached the final stages of the recruitment process.
"Late in 2020, Johnson, 58, was in financial trouble as he faced divorce payments, childcare costs and bills for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. Sharp, a friend and former adviser to the politician who has given £400,000 to the Conservative Party, became involved that November after a dinner at the home of Sam Blyth, an old friend, in west London...."
(Boris Johnson didn't disclose Sharp’s involvement in the MPs’ register of interests, which says members must declare any benefit that could influence, or be perceived to influence, their public work. He also omitted it from his register of ministerial interests.)
(Richard Sharp didn't tell panel about financing the Prime Minister who appointed him as chair of the national broadcaster.)
How do they get away with this, somebody might wonder (not me though - it's fine!).
I should probably add that it's not the BBC in its entirety (and I'm certainly not anti-BBC) - in fact I gather that many prominent folk on the creative side of the BBC (non-political output) feel embarrassed by the recent high-level Tory politicisation. Ironically that's the side that Conservative figures (like Norman Tebbit!) always said had a "leftie" bias.
Here's another recent piece in the Guardian documenting how right-wing thinktanks have such a powerful say on BBC news output:
Unfortunately large sections of the BBC have been annexed by Conservative proxies,
it's effectively become the ConservativeHome Service 🙄
I physically switch off the box quite frequently these days...