‘Boris told: Stop asking Richard Sharpe for finance advice weeks before being appointed BBC chair’

You ding-dang sure?

Boris Johnson was reportedly told to stop asking Richard Sharp for finance advice – just weeks before the ex-banker was announced as BBC chair.

Last week Mr Johnson rubbished reports and insisted that Mr Sharp ‘knows absolutely nothing about my personal finances, I can tell you that for 100 per cent ding-dang sure’.

But according to The Sunday Times, in 2020 the cabinet secretary sent the then-prime minister a memo reading: ‘Given the imminent announcement of Richard Sharp as the new BBC chair, it is important that you no longer ask his advice about your personal financial matters.’

Mr Sharp has been facing calls to stand down over claims he helped Mr Johnson secure a loan. He said he merely introduced Sam Blyth, who offered to be the PM’s guarantor, to the cabinet secretary – and denied helping arrange the loan or knowing about Mr Johnson’s finances.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson insisted Mr Sharp has ‘never given any financial advice to Boris Johnson, nor has Mr Johnson sought any’ – adding the memo shows he ‘took the necessary steps to ensure probity’.

The public appointments commissioner is set to investigate whether Mr Sharp’s appointment as BBC chairman was fair – with Mr Sharp denying there was any conflict of interest.

And Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain has called on the government to publish Mr Johnson’s internal register of interests, claiming: ‘The public are sick of these endless lies and Conservative cover-ups.’

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