BBC interim chair set to be named as Richard Sharp heads for exit and Big Brother executive urged to apply
A Welsh arts champion is set to be named acting chair of the BBC as ministers begin their search for Richard Sharp’s permanent replacement.
Dame Elan Closs Stephens is expected to be named interim chair by Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer.
A former chair of Welsh-language broadcaster S4C and a career academic who taught Communications at the University of Aberystwyth, Dame Elan is described as a “safe pair of hands” to guide the BBC over the Summer.
She is a current member of the BBC Executive Board and would take over after Sharp, who announced his resignation after an investigation into his role in facilitating a loan for Boris Johnson, chairs his final BBC meeting next month.
Ms Frazer will conduct a thorough search for a permanent replacement for Mr Sharp, insiders say.
Candidates must declare any potential conflicts of interest that might compromise their independence in the job, the job application currently being drawn up, will state.
However previous party political affiliations will not be a barrier, Ms Frazer has indicated.
Friends are urging Sir Peter Bazalgette, the TV executive who brought Big Brother to Britain, to apply.
The former executive chairman of ITV and co-chair of the Creative Industries Council, Sir Peter was responsible for hit programmes such as Big Brother and Ready Steady Cook when he ran independent company Endemol.
He has good relations with leading Conservatives and was briefly involved with a Tory party commission on reviving popular interest in the democratic process.
With Ms Stephens not expected to seek the post on a permanent basis, other potential candidates include Damon Buffini, Deputy BBC Chair, a private equity boss who chairs the BBC’s Commercial Board.
Buffini would guide the BBC through a future in which additional commercial income could reduce reliance on a mandatory licence fee as the broadcaster faces the challenge from tech giants.
Other candidates could include Baroness Stowell of Beeston, a former BBC executive who chairs the Lords Digital select committee. She is a former Conservative leader of the House of Lords.
Former arts minister Lord Vaizey could also throw his hat into the ring.
Ms Frazer will make a final decision, alongside the Prime Minister, after candidates have been interviewed by an independent panel.
The process to appoint a successor has not officially begun. BBC staff are hoping that the new chair seeks less influence over day-to-day editorial concerns.
One figure said: “Sharp sat on the interview board for News executives and was very involved in driving ‘impartiality.’ As a Conservative donor ultimately brought down by his closeness to Boris Johnson, that made his position very difficult.”
The new BBC Chair will oversee the corporation’s submission to a review into the licence fee announced by Ms Frazer.
Although not ideologically opposed to the charge like predecessor Nadine Dorries, the Culture Secretary will ask the BBC to submit its own suggestions for how the fee can be modernised for the streaming age.
The BBC has suggested the licence fee could become a utility charge, paid along with council tax bills.
