Mr Cleverley, who appeared on the BBC on Sunday morning, answered multiple questions after the Sunday Times claimed that the BBC’s chairman helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrange an £800.000 loan weeks before Mr Johnson recommended him for the top job at the organisation.
According to the Sunday Times, multimillionaire Canadian businessman Sam Blyth, a distant cousin of Mr Johnson, approached Mr Sharp about acting as Mr Johnson’s guarantor for a loan. It is unclear where the lending deal originated.
According to the Times, the Cabinet Office later addressed Mr Johnson a letter urging him to stop soliciting Mr Sharp’s counsel on his personal finances because of his upcoming BBC post.
Mr Johnson’s sister said Mr Case was instrumental in arranging the £800,000 credit facility.
“All the parties involved have made statements to The Sunday Times, which show they did everything above board and everything was transparent,” Rachel Johnson told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
I recommend that you have Simon Case, who appears to be the linchpin in both of these stories, come on and explain what happened.”
Mr Sharp stated in a statement, “There is no conflict when I just connected Mr Blyth with the cabinet secretary at his request and had no further role whatsoever.”
Meanwhile, Labour has called for an investigation into the BBC’s chair appointment process following “sleaze” allegations.
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