BBC chairman and Tory donor Richard Sharp has been summoned to appear at Westminster to be quizzed by MPs about his appointment.
Senior Conservative MP Damian Green, the acting chair of the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) Committee, has written to Sharp to ask that he comes to the hearing in early February.
It comes after reports that, before he was recommended for the top BBC role by Boris Johnson, Sharp helped facilitate a loan worth up to £800,000 for the disgraced former prime minister.
Green wrote to Sharp: “Following the recent media reports regarding your appointment as chair of the BBC, the Committee would like to invite you to appear before it on the morning of February 7.
“The Committee intends to cover the issues raised in your pre-appointment hearing and any developments since then.
“I would be grateful if you could confirm your attendance with the Clerk of the Committee at the earliest possible opportunity.”
DCMS later confirmed that the BBC chairman had accepted the invitation.
Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Sharp said he does not believe there was any conflict of interest in his appointment, despite his involvement with Johnson’s finances.
He said he believed his selection process was conducted “by the book” and denied he had misled the advisory panel or MPs on the DCMS committee.
The former banker has been facing calls to stand down after it emerged that in late 2020 he had introduced his friend Sam Blyth to the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case to discuss whether Blyth could act as a guarantor for a loan facility for Johnson.
But he insisted he would remain in place and was confident he was given the job on merit.
On Monday, public appointments commissioner William Shawcross announced he is to investigate Sharp’s appointment as BBC chairman in February 2021 to ensure the process was conducted “fairly, openly and on merit”.
Rishi Sunak, who is under pressure over Tory Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs, has sought to distance himself from the controversy, saying Sharp’s appointment was made by “one of my predecessors”.
