An investigation will be launched into the appointment of the BBC chairman following reports he helped Boris Johnson secure a loan.
William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, said he would review the competition which led to Richard Sharp’s appointment while Mr Johnson was prime minister.
He said: “The role of the commissioner is to oversee the public appointments process and ensure appointments are made fairly, openly and on merit.
“I intend to review this competition to assure myself and the public that the process was run in compliance with the government’s governance code for public appointments.”
The Sunday Times reported Mr Sharp was involved in arranging a guarantor on a loan of up to £800,000 for Mr Johnson in late 2020, and that the then-prime minister went on to recommend him for the top job at the BBC.
The government’s paymaster general, Jeremy Quin, told the Commons on Monday Mr Sharp went through an “incredibly robust process” by an independent panel ahead of his appointment and is “absolutely confident” the “usual process” will have been followed.
But the SNP’s John Nicholson, who was on the Culture Select Committee Mr Sharp appeared in front of, said it was “all a bit banana republic” after he said they “grilled him about his £400,000 gift to the Conservative Party”.
“However, he did not disclose his role in getting the man appointing him a huge loan,” Mr Nicholson told the Commons.
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Earlier on Monday, the chairman asked for the BBC to review any potential conflicts of interest he may currently have to ensure that “all appropriate guidelines have been followed” since he joined the broadcaster.
“We have many challenges at the BBC and I know that distractions such as this are not welcome,” he said in a statement read out on BBC News.
The review will not look at his links to Mr Johnson’s loan, but in a letter to BBC staff, Mr Sharp clarified some of the details surrounding the Sunday Times report.
He confirmed he introduced multimillionaire Canadian businessman Sam Blyth to cabinet secretary Simon Case “as Sam wanted to support Boris Johnson”.
“I was not involved in making a loan, or arranging a guarantee, and I did not arrange any financing. What I did do was to seek an introduction of Sam Blyth to the relevant official in government,” he said.
“Sam Blyth, who I have known for more than forty years, lives in London and having become aware of the financial pressures on the then-prime minister, and being a successful entrepreneur, he told me he wanted to explore whether he could assist.”
Mr Blyth is a distant cousin of Mr Johnson’s.
Timeline
November 2020: According to the Sunday Times the loan guarantee was first suggested by Canadian millionaire Sam Blyth during a dinner with Richard Sharp.
Early December 2020: In early December, Richard Sharp put Sam Blyth in contact with the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case.
Late 2020: Before the end of the year, Richard Sharp and Sam Blyth met with Boris Johnson for dinner at his country residence, Chequers. They insist the prime minister’s finances were not discussed.
January 2021: At the start of January, the government announced Richard Sharp as the preferred candidate to be BBC chairman.
The statement was released moments after Mr Johnson said that Mr Sharp “knows absolutely nothing about my personal finances”.
Speaking to Sky News he said: “This is a load of complete nonsense – absolute nonsense.
“Let me just tell you, Richard Sharp is a great and wise man but he knows absolutely nothing about my personal finances – I can tell you that for 100% ding-dang sure.
“This is just another example of the BBC disappearing up its own fundament.”
The BBC reported that Mr Sharp “has agreed with the board’s senior independent director” that the nominations committee will look at conflicts of interest when it next meets and, “in the interests of transparency, publish the conclusions”.
Ms Powell said there also needed to be an independent investigation into the hiring process “to satisfy the public and parliament of its integrity”.
On the commissioner opening an investigation, Labour’s shadow culture secretary said: “The BBC Chair, Number 10 and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport clearly have questions to answer.
“This probe is welcome news and should shine a light on this appointments process and provide reassurance to the public.”
The Cabinet Office has insisted Mr Sharp was appointed “following a rigorous appointments process”.
This included assessment by a panel of experts and “additional pre-appointment scrutiny by a House of Commons Select Committee”, according to a statement released yesterday.
Two Australian brothers and a US tourist who went missing in Mexico were shot dead by thieves who wanted their truck’s tyres, according to prosecutors.
Relatives of Jake and Callum Robinson and Jack Carter Rhoad have identified the three bodies.
They were dumped in a remote 15m-deep (50ft) well.
The trio went missing a week ago while on a surfing trip near the northern city of Ensenada – not far from the US border – and had posted photos on social media of isolated beaches.
Thieves likely saw their truck and tents and wanted their tyres but the men probably resisted, said prosecutor María Elena Andrade Ramírez.
She said the bodies were taken to “a site that is extremely hard to get to” in Baja California state.
The well, near where their truck and tent were found on Thursday, also contained a fourth body that had been there much longer.
It took two hours to winch the bodies out, said Ms Andrade Ramírez.
She said the same thieves may also have dumped the fourth body there.
After the bodies were found, surfers gathered in Ensenada, the nearest city, to protest at what they say is a lack of safety in the state.
“They only wanted to surf – we demand safe beaches,” said a sign held by one woman.
Some of them later took part in a ‘paddle-out’ ceremony in remembrance of the three men, forming a circle with their boards in the sea and throwing flowers.
In a Facebook message last week, Jake and Callum’s mother said she hadn’t been in touch with them since 27 April.
The post, on 1 May, said they were meant to check into an Airbnb in the resort town of Rosarito but “did not show up”.
Australian media reported Callum had been living in the US to try to become a professional lacrosse player, while his brother had only flown out to visit him two weeks ago.
It could be a scene from centuries ago. In the Nevada desert, Native Americans are protesting over a mining project they say desecrates sacred land.
They are riding to Sentinel Mountain, which their ancestors once used as a lookout in times gone by. Here, they say, more than 30 of their people were massacred by US cavalry in 1865.
Today, the land is at the heart of America’s electric car revolution and Joe Biden’s clean energy policy
Native American tribal members say the mine neglects their interests and offends their history.
The route of the “Prayer Horse Ride”, a journey on horseback through mining-affected communities in Northern Nevada, is designed to publicise their objections.
“Being the original inhabitants of the land means we have cultural ties and roots to these landscapes,” says Gary McKinney, a member of the Duck Valley Shoshone Paiute tribe.
“To me, it’s sacred ground,” says Myron Smart. His grandmother survived the massacre of 1865 as a baby. Industrialising this place, he says, offends her memory and reflects the story of Native Americans through time.
“We’re people too. We have red blood just like everybody in the United States.”
However, a US judge has rejected their complaints and the project is going ahead.
The open mine, which is on public land, will source lithium to power up to a million electric vehicles a year and will create 1,800 jobs in its construction phase.
President Biden aims to make the United States a world leader in electric vehicle technology and reduce reliance for lithium supply on countries like China.
The Thacker Pass project has supporters as well as opponents.
Lithium Americas, the company behind the project, insists the mine is not located on a massacre site. This was supported by a judge in 2021 who ruled the evidence presented by tribes “does not definitely establish that a massacre occurred” within the proposed project area.
Tim Crowley, the company’s VP of Government and External Affairs, said in a statement to Sky News: “Lithium Americas is committed to doing this project right, which is why we have a community benefits agreement in place with the local Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe that ensures benefits from Thacker Pass accrue to them.
“Concerns about cultural and environmental resources were thoroughly addressed in the BLM’s (Bureau of Land Management) approved Environmental Impact Statement, which withstood comprehensive reviews by the Federal District and Circuit Courts.”
However, members of different Nevada-based Native American tribes continue to oppose the mining project. They say their evidence of the 1865 massacre, and a separate inter-tribal conflict, is rooted in the oral history passed on from their ancestors, through generations – not collated with a court case in mind, but compelling nonetheless.
“Back in our ancestors’ days, they didn’t write any documentation down, they didn’t send letters, they didn’t write in journals,” says Gary. “So there was no way that the United States government could know our story.
“These stories have been passed down generation to generation, so we have direct lineage from survivors of these massacres, which is how these stories remain in our families.”
The courts have also rejected complaints by tribal members and conservationists on the environmental impact and planning consultation.
The project throws a focus onto the issues surrounding the pursuit of clean energy.
“First off, we have to acknowledge that we need electric vehicles,” says Amanda Hurowitz of Mighty Earth, a global environmental non-governmental organisation.
They are more efficient than petrol and diesel cars, she says, and they are needed for the US to hit its climate targets.
But they also need more mined minerals – like lithium – and getting those materials out of the ground has an impact.
“All mining operations need to get consent from the local people,” she adds, “and the more consent, the better.”
Joe Biden’s dog – which has bitten US Secret Service staff several times – should be put down, a political opponent, who wrote about shooting her own dog, has suggested.
In her memoir, due to be published this week, the Republican reportedly details how she killed the “extremely dangerous” puppy after the animal attacked and killed a neighbouring family’s chickens.
In an interview on Sunday, she suggested the US president‘s German shepherd, Commander, should meet the same fate.
She told CBS News’ Face The Nation: “Joe Biden’s dog has attacked 24 Secret Service people. So how many people is enough people to be attacked and dangerously hurt before you make a decision on a dog and what to do with it?”
When asked by host Margaret Brennan, who pointed out the animal no longer lived at the White house, whether she was suggesting the dog should be shot, Ms Noem said: “That what’s the president should be accountable to.”
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In her book, Noem reportedly describes Cricket as “less than worthless” and “untrainable”.
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After having shot her dog, she reportedly killed her family’s goat, which she called “nasty and mean”, The Guardian, which had an early copy of the book, reported.
The governor, who has often defended her actions, despite widespread criticism, again justified her decision in Sunday’s interview, saying: “I made a difficult choice. I think you’re a mother, too. And you have little kiddos.
“Would you make a choice between your children or a dangerous animal? And I think I would ask everybody in the country to put themselves in that situation.”
Asked why she did not take the dog to a shelter instead of killing it, she said Cricket was “a working dog” who “had come from a family that had already had issues with this dog”.
“I didn’t ask somebody else to take that responsibility for me… I had to make that decision myself,” she added.