THE man who will lead the BBC’s investigation into the appointment of Richard Sharp is the father of a senior Number 10 aide, it has been revealed.
The BBC launched an investigation into its own chairman, Richard Sharp, after he was accused of helping to facilitate an £800,000 loan for the then prime minister Boris Johnson while in the process of applying for the job.
William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, has been tasked with leading the probe into Sharp’s appointment.
Shawcross is the father of Eleanor Shawcross – the public policy specialist who heads up 10 Downing Street’s policy unit.
Who is William Shawcross?
A graduate of Eton and Oxford, Shawcross spent many years working as a journalist for outlets such as The Sunday Times and The Spectator.
However, his conservative political leanings are further evidenced in other eras of his employment history.
He has previously served as the director of the Henry Jackson Society – a neoconservative think tank which was described as a “far-right, deeply anti-Muslim propaganda outfit [used to] smear other cultures, religions and ethnic groups” by its co-founder, who has since distanced himself from the outfit.
Following this he became chair of the Charity Commission for England and Wales between 2012 – 2018.
His appointment was challenged by three Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs on the Public Administrative Select Committee at the time due to his published support for the Conservative Party (they were outvoted by the four Tory MPs on the committee).
During his time as chair he was accused of a bias against non-Conservative and Islamic groups and oversaw guidance that said charities should only campaign in the EU referendum in “exceptional circumstances”.
The guidance was later withdrawn after it was challenged by charities (Shawcross then expressed for support for the UK leaving the EU in 2019).
In 2021, he was appointed to chair the review of the UK Government’s anti-radicalisation programme Prevent.
Amnesty International and 16 other human rights organisations then announced that they would boycott the review due to Shawcross’s “well-known record and previous statements on Islam”.
Before her death Shawcross acted as the Queen Mother’s official biographer and said the Netflix series The Crown was “astonishingly and deliberately hurtful to individual members of the royal family [who are] public servants who cannot answer back, let alone sue for damages”.
In 2009, he signed a petition calling for the release of film director Roman Polanski who was detained by Swiss police in relation to sexual offences against a 13-year-old girl.
His daughter Eleanor was appointed head of the Number 10 policy unit in October 2022 and previously donated £20,000 to Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign.
William Shawcross has said his role as Commissioner for Public Appointments is to "ensure appointments are made fairly, openly and on merit".
