Pressure on BBC chair mounts over Gary Lineker suspension

BBC executives are scrambling to repair relations with Gary Lineker and stave off a staff mutiny at the corporation, with hopes that the presenter could be back in post by next weekend.

The former chancellor George Osborne said Sharp only had any hope of staying in post was if he could help broker an end to the standoff between the BBC and Lineker.

Sharp has admitted introducing to the Cabinet Office a friend and distant cousin of Johnson, Sam Blyth, who later provided a loan guarantee facility to Johnson for up to £800,000. The culture select committee of MPs condemned Sharp for failing to publicly divulge his role.