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Richard Simon Sharp (born 8 February 1956) is an English former banker who has been the
chairman of the BBC
The Chairman of the BBC is the head of the BBC Board, responsible for maintaining the independence of the BBC and overseeing the functioning of the BBC to fulfil its mission. The chairman leads the process for appointing the Director-General and ...
since February 2021. Sharp worked at
JP Morgan
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...
for eight years, and then for 23 years at
Goldman Sachs. He was an advisor to
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
during his tenure as London Mayor, and to
Rishi Sunak as Chancellor. He has donated more than £400,000 to the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
.
Immediately before coming to the BBC, Sharp served as chair of the
Royal Academy of Arts (2007–2012) and as a member of the Bank of England's
Financial Policy Committee The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is an official committee of the Bank of England, modelled on the already well established Monetary Policy Committee (United Kingdom), Monetary Policy Committee. It was announced in 2010 as a new body responsible ...
(2013–2019).
Commentators had observed that his relationship with Rishi Sunak would help him to lead negotiations with the government over the future of the
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's licence fee.
Early life
Richard Sharp was born on 8 February 1956,
to a Jewish family
in London.
He is the son of
Eric Sharp, Baron Sharp of Grimsdyke
Eric Sharp, Baron Sharp of Grimsdyke, (17 August 1916 – 2 May 1994) was a British businessman and Member of the House of Lords.
Career
Eric Sharp began his career 1948 as Principal in the Ministry of Power. He was 1948–1950 the UK deleg ...
, who was chairman of
Cable & Wireless plc
Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom (via subsidiary Mercury Communications). The company later off ...
from 1980 to 1990.
His twin sister, Dame
Victoria Sharp
Dame Victoria Madeleine Sharp, , PC (born 8 February 1956) is the President of the King's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales.
Early life
She is the daughter of Lord Sharp of Grimsdyke. Her twin brother is Rich ...
, is president of the King's Bench Division of the High Court in England and Wales.
In 1978, he received a degree in
philosophy, politics, and economics from
Christ Church, Oxford.
Career
Sharp worked for
JP Morgan
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in City of New York, New York City and Delaware General Corporation Law, inco ...
for eight years.
He then worked for
Goldman Sachs for 23 years, rising to chairman of its principal investment business in Europe, before leaving in 2007.
He was
Rishi Sunak's boss when they both worked for Goldman Sachs,
was an advisor to
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
when he was
Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The current m ...
, and acted as an unpaid adviser to Sunak on the UK's economic response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
He was a member of the Bank of England's
Financial Policy Committee The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) is an official committee of the Bank of England, modelled on the already well established Monetary Policy Committee (United Kingdom), Monetary Policy Committee. It was announced in 2010 as a new body responsible ...
from 2013 to 2019.
In 2014, he joined the property investment company RoundShield Partners, where he was a senior member until February 2021, when ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' approached the firm for comment. RoundShield advised and managed a fund that provided a £50m loan to Caridon, which has been accused of "cramming homeless and low-income families into former office blocks".
Sharp was chairman of the
Royal Academy of Arts from 2007 to 2012.
BBC chairmanship
In January 2021 it was announced that he would be the next chairman of the BBC, succeeding
David Clementi
Sir David Cecil Clementi (born 25 February 1949) is a British business executive and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. He was formerly the Chairman of the BBC.
Clementi holds a number of board positions including chairman of int ...
who was due to leave the position the following month.
Speaking shortly after his appointment, Sharp told the
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department for ...
that he planned to give his £160,000 BBC salary to charity.
''The Guardian'' reported that Sharp had donated more than £400,000 to the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
and that he was a former director of the
Centre for Policy Studies
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independ ...
, a think tank created by
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...
in the 1970s with historical links to the Conservative Party. The appointment followed that of
Tim Davie
Timothy Douglas Davie (born 25 April 1967 in Croydon, London) is the current and seventeenth Director-General of the BBC. He succeeded Tony Hall in the role on 1 September 2020. Davie was formerly the chief executive officer of BBC Studios. ...
, a former Conservative Party council candidate, to the role of
Director-General
A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals''
) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a governmen ...
. Professor
Diane Coyle
Diane Coyle (born February 1961) is an economist and a former advisor to the UK Treasury. She was vice-chairman of the BBC Trust, the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was a member of the UK Competition Commission fr ...
, formerly of the BBC Trust, stated in January 2023 that Sharp should never have even been on the selection panel.
In January 2023, ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' reported that just weeks before Sharp was announced as BBC chairman, he helped the then Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, secure an £800,000 loan. Sharp helped connect Johnson with
Sam Blyth
Sam, SAM or variants may refer to:
Places
* Sam, Benin
* Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso
* Sam, Iran
* Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place
People and fictional ...
, a multimillionaire Canadian businessman and distant cousin of Johnson, who acted as a guarantor. Sharp did not disclose any involvement with Johnson's financial arrangements during the interview process, nor at a hearing before a select committee. He acknowledged that he "connected" Johnson and Blyth but denied that this was a
conflict of interest. Replying to a question about this from
Sky News, Johnson said that Sharp knew nothing about his personal finances.
Following the story, the
Labour Party called for an investigation into Sharp's appointment as chair of the BBC and suggested that the Prime Minister had breached the code of conduct. The accusations have been dismissed by the Cabinet Office via a spokesperson and members of the government have maintained that Sharp was hired on merit. The Board of the BBC is reviewing potential conflicts of interest, but Sharp has stated that he will not quit his position.
Writing in ''The Guardian'' on 24 January 2023,
Roger Bolton drew parallels with the controversy over the appointment by the
Tony Blair Labour government, of
Gavyn Davies
Gavyn Davies, OBE (born 27 November 1950) is a former Goldman Sachs partner who was the chairman of the BBC from 2001 until 2004. On 28 January 2004 he announced that he was resigning his BBC post following the publication of the Hutton Inqui ...
as chairman of the BBC in 2001.
Bolton described him as having been both a member of, and donor to, the Labour Party, and "also a multimillionaire", and as "a former partner at Goldman Sachs", and his wife was a "private secretary to the prime minister". Bolton also described how the director general under Davies,
Greg Dyke
Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
, had also been a Labour Party member and donor.
stated restoring trust in BBC impartiality should involve ending political appointments to the chairmanship. Mosey maintained "All governments have done it."
The Office of the
Commissioner for Public Appointments
The Commissioner for Public Appointments is a British public servant, appointed by The King, whose primary role is to provide independent assurance that ministerial public appointments across the United Kingdom by HM Government Ministers (and devol ...
opened an inquiry into this appointment. On 6 February 2023 the Commissioner recused himself as he had "met Sharp on several occasions", and appointed Adam Heppinstall to lead further work.
Sharp's failure to tell the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee of his discussions was examined at their meeting on 7 February 2023. The Committee concluded that this omission prevented appropriate scrutiny. The cross-party committee stated Sharp failed to provide "the full facts we required to make an informed judgment on his suitability as a candidate. Mr Sharp should consider the impact his omissions will have on trust in him, the BBC and the public appointments process". Labour MP
Lucy Powell
Lucy Maria Powell (born 10 October 1974) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport since 2021. A member of the Labour and Co-operative parties, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for ...
feared the report put the impartiality and independence of the BBC into doubt and criticised "cronyism", while
Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
MP
Daisy Cooper
Daisy Cooper (born 29 October 1981) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Albans since 2019. She has served as the deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party since 2020 ...
called for the ministerial ethics adviser to investigate Johnson.
The broadcaster
Jonathan Dimbleby
Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby.
...
said Sharp should "fall on his sword" and added the trouble was causing a "great deal of damage for the BBC". Journalist
Patience Wheatcroft
Patience Jane Wheatcroft, Baroness Wheatcroft (born 28 September 1951) is a British journalist and life peeress, who was editor-in-chief of ''The Wall Street Journal Europe.'' She left this role upon becoming a peer.
She previously served as ed ...
commented on the loan to Johnson that Sharp helped to organise and said Sharp did Johnson "a favour just when he wanted the prime minister to give him the top job at the BBC.(...) What the BBC needs in a chairman is impeccable judgment."
Personal life
In 1987, Richard Sharp married
Victoria Hull, an American and fellow Goldman Sachs banker, in
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
.
They have three children together.
In October 2008, the couple were living in Kensington, and had an estimated net worth of £500 million.
They divorced, and some time after 2014, Hull married British investment banker
Sir Simon Robey.
Sharp also has a daughter from a second marriage that has also ended.
Sharp has given more than £400,000 to the Conservative Party,
and £35,000 to the
Quilliam think tank via his charity, the Sharp Foundation. When asked why he donated to Quilliam, Sharp said he was impressed by founder
Maajid Nawaz
Maajid Usman Nawaz (; born 2 November 1977) is a British activist and former radio presenter. He was the founding chairman of Quilliam. Until January 2022, he was the host of an LBC radio show on Saturdays and Sundays.
Born in Southend-on-Sea ...
's "efforts to combat radicalism and extremism".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Richard
1956 births
Living people
British bankers
Goldman Sachs people
Sons of life peers
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
BBC people
Chairmen of the BBC
BBC Board members
JPMorgan Chase people
Conservative Party (UK) donors