Keir Starmer promises reform on choosing BBC chairman

Sir Keir Starmer has joined calls to strip the government of its power to appoint the chairman of the BBC in the wake of Richard Sharp’s forced resignation.

Starmer said a Labour government would launch an independent review of the current recruitment process, in which the prime minister has the final say over who gets the role.

The Labour leader’s comments come after an independent report found that Sharp had broken Whitehall rules by failing to disclose the part he played in getting Boris Johnson an £800,000 loan guarantee at the same time as applying for the job.

• The Times’s view on the belated resignation of the BBC chairman: Sharp Exit

The report, by the barrister Adam Heppinstall KC, revealed that Downing Street repeatedly