By Joe Pike, political correspondent

After three months of refusing to leave, Richard Sharp succumbed to what was perhaps inevitable.

His carefully choreographed TV statement was recorded before the report was even published, and he avoided the need to do an interview.

Mr Sharp has, therefore, not been held to account about the damage his behaviour and this whole row has had on the BBC’s reputation.

If there was one point Mr Sharp hoped to make in his statement, it was that his appointment was valid.

That, he suggested, was the key finding of the report by Adam Heppinstall KC.

Yes, there was a breach of the governance code, but not one that made his position untenable, Mr Sharp argued.

He claimed the breach was “inadvertent”, but notably, the KC did not make a judgment on that point.

Mr Sharp’s key message seemed to be that his departure from the corporation was of his own choosing.

But the detail of the report published by the commissioner for public appointments draws that framing into question.

Read Joe’s full analysis here: