Samir Shah, named by the UK government on Wednesday as its choice for the post of BBC chairman, had moved to Britain from India as an eight-year-old and completed a DPhil at Oxford University in 1979. He has had a 44-year career in TV and previously served as non-executive director of the BBC board. He is a former head of political programmes and of current affairs at the BBC.
Born in 1952 in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, to Amrit Shah and Uma Bakaya, Shah shifted to the UK in 1960.
The BBC chair’s role is a political appointment made by the government and signed off by the UK PM. The select committee will need to approve the ministers’ choice before it is sent to the privy council and the king for approval.
Shah replaces Richard Sharp, who quit in April after a report found he had broken public appointment rules by failing to declare his involvement in a personal loan of £800,000 for the then prime minister, Boris Johnson.
A former Commissioner for the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, Shah was recently appointed to the UK government-commissioned review panel to look into the civil disorder in Leicester in 2022. Shah, who has previously criticised the BBC for lacking “plurality of voice”, said on Wednesday: “The BBC is one of our strongest calling cards on soft power.” The BBC chair is in charge of protecting BBC’s independence and ensuring it fulfils its mission to inform, educate and entertain. The chair leads negotiations with the government over the future of the licence fee.