The government has been urged by todays report to review current conflict of interest guidance for candidates to ensure it is fit for purpose in the wake ofBBC Chair Richard Sharps resignation.
Adam Heppinstall KCs reportinto Sharps now-fateful involvement withBoris Johnsons 800,000 ($1M) loan also found:
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A successor will now be sought over the next few weeks and Sharp will remain in post until June.
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In the meantime, the government has been urged by Heppinstalls report to initiate a review of current conflict of interest guidance for candidates to ensure it is fit for purpose.
Richard Sharp on BBC NewsJordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images
Elaborating, Heppinstall said the government should forge a new section of its guidance addressing relationships and interactions between candidates and appointing ministers, and how confidential or sensitive issues might be disclosed, all of which would have been appropriate in the Sharp case.
It stressed that candidates are already asked to disclose whether any conflict of interest could cause potential embarrassment, an issue that has repeatedly been flagged in the case of Sharp.
In Sharps statement, he accepted his position has become a distraction but called his breach inadvertent and not material.
The government was also urged to consider whether changes are required to the section on standards in public life and handling conflicts.
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which has been heavily critical of Sharp, said Sharps behavior has caused undoubted damage to trust in the BBC.
The public appointments process and to Mr Sharps reputation could all have been avoided had he chosen to be more open with the facts when he appeared before the Committee more than two years ago, it added.
