Following the findings of the Heppinstall inquiry into the appointment process, Sharp submitted his resignation to the BBC Board and to the Culture Secretary, which took effect at the end of June 2023.
Sharp worked for JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, and served as chairman of the Royal Academy of Arts (2007–2012) and as a member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee (2013–2019).
RoundShield advised and managed a fund that provided a £50m loan to Caridon Property, which has been accused of "cramming homeless and low-income families into former office blocks".
[11][12] Speaking shortly after his appointment, Sharp told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he planned to give his £160,000 BBC salary to charity.
[18] In January 2023, The Sunday Times reported that just weeks before Sharp was announced as BBC chairman, he helped the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, secure an £800,000 loan.
[21] Following the story, the Labour Party called for an investigation into Sharp's appointment as chair of the BBC and suggested that the Prime Minister had breached the code of conduct.
[24] Writing in The Guardian on 24 January 2023, Roger Bolton drew parallels with the controversy over the appointment by the Tony Blair Labour government, of Gavyn Davies as chairman of the BBC in 2001.
[25] Bolton described him as having been both a member of, and donor to, the Labour Party, and "also a multimillionaire", and as "a former partner at Goldman Sachs", and his wife was a "private secretary to the prime minister".
[27] The cross-party committee stated Sharp failed to provide "the full facts we required to make an informed judgment on his suitability as a candidate.
"[30] In Declassified UK, former Guardian defence correspondent Richard Norton-Taylor said: "The Sharp affair is the latest episode in a long history of the close relationship between the BBC and the upper reaches of the British establishment.
"[31] In further evidence to the Select Committee, in March 2023, John Birt described Sharp as being unsuitable for the job and blamed the Cabinet Secretary for a failure of governance in the appointment.
[32] In response to the suspension of Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker by the BBC, on 10 March 2023, [33] several politicians and other political commentators called for Sharp's resignation.
[42] On 29 April 2023 The Guardian apologised and removed a cartoon by Martin Rowson, which depicted Sharp in an unfavourable light and was described as containing anti-Semitic tropes, from their website, saying it "does not meet our editorial standards".