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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

August 7, 2015 | 3 min read

Alan Yentob has said he is not "remotely considering" resigning as BBC creative director in a heated interview about the shuttered Kids Company charity he chaired.

Yentob launched an impassioned defence of the children's charity which has faced accusations of financial irregularity and sexual abuse this week.

Speaking on Channel 4 News, Yentob said it was the newly emerged accusations of sexual abuse at the charity - which he claimed to have only limited knowledge of - which resulted in it failing to secure the philantropist funding it needed to ensure its continued survival.

Defending the company, which shuttered despite earlier in this week securing a £3m pledge from government, Yentob said: "On Thursday the government decided we were fit for purpose and they would give us £3m pound… and then these allegations of sexual abuse came and as a consequence of that, unable to deliver more money in those circumstances we responsibly said to potential philanthropists don’t put your money here. I believe we have acted as responsibly as we possibly could.

He added: “I believe in what Kids Company has done, it may not be perfect but I believe it is an incredible model.”

When asked if he used his position as BBC creative director to interfere with Newsnight investigations into the charity, he said: "I am not remotely considering my position at the BBC, I don’t think I have in any way abused my positon, I have not appeared on any BBC programmes, I am appearing on Channel 4 now.”

On his communications with the Newsnight team, he added: "There is no way that I interfered with the coverage of that programme. The only contact that I had with the news operation is on that day.

"if you are told that there are significant allegations against an organisation you are the chairman of and if the welfare of children is at stake, the idea that you would not say 'Excuse me what is happening?' and then say 'Can you give us time to respond?' [is absurd]..."

Yentob held the positon at Kids Company for 18 years, he denied all accusations of mismanagement despite the company in the top five per cent in the UK in terms of income due to high-profile support from Labour and Conservative backers.

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