Boris Johnson and the BBC Chairman Richard Sharp

Whitehall used to have protocols and processes that would at least be obstacles to this sort of thing. That's been really hollowed out in recent years by a number of things one is good quality people actually wanting to go off and work in the private sector because the money's better. The pandemic which just bred this culture of corner cutting and doing whatever was expedient and then you throw in you mentioned WhatsApp. We've lost the capacity for surprise about Boris Johnson and his various dealings I suppose Raff but were you at all shocked or taken aback? He applied for the job knowing that his old friend Boris Johnson would decide he got it. Richard Ayer a former member of the BBC Trust