Richard Sharp report: 6 things we learned from the report to the BBC president

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BBC Chairman Richard Sharp has resigned after a report revealed he failed to declare two conflicts of interest during its appointment process.

Mr. Sharp, a Tory donor, had helped arrange a meeting for Boris Johnson with someone who could give him a personal loan.

He also told the Prime Minister in advance that he wanted the job - and the nominating committee was told he was the "only" candidate backed by ministers.

The report, written by lawyer Adam Heppinstall, makes a number of points about how whose public appointments are made in the UK in 2023. Some of the key points are below:

1) Sharp had two undisclosed conflicts of interest

The report revealed that Richard Sharp did not failed to disclose two potential conflicts of interest during the bid process to become BBC chairman.

One was that he was making presentations to help the Prime Minister with his "personal finances".

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But the investigation also revealed that Sharp had another conflict of interest - he had told the Prime Minister in advance that he wanted to be chairman of the BBC.

2) Sharp accepts one of the conflicts of interest but not the other

The now former chairman of the BBC 'does not consider' that telling Boris Johnson he wanted to be chairman of the BBC amounts to a conflict of interest .

But he admits he should have explained to the nominating committee that he was making an introduction to help Mr Johnson with his finances.

"He says his failure to disclosing was entirely inadvertent," the report states.

3) The problem was that Sharp did not disclose the conflicts

The report states that none of these issues should have necessarily been a dealbreaker for Sharp's appointment as chairman of the BBC.

He says that "a potential conflict of interest should not prevent a candidate from being shortlisted or appointed, provided they are declared and that appropriate arrangements be made".

The problem was that they weren't declared. The chairman of the nominating committee "was not made aware of...