Football presenter Gary Lineker has said he is confident the BBC will allow him to continue fronting one of the UK’s most popular sports programmes, despite contentious remarks he made about government asylum policy.
The former England international, who is the publicly funded broadcaster’s highest paid star, is at the centre of the BBC’s latest row over impartiality after he compared the language ministers have used to promote their plans to curb illegal migration to that used in Nazi Germany.
While Lineker on Thursday said he was “looking forward” to hosting the corporation’s flagship Match of the Day show on Saturday night, BBC insiders warned he had a case to answer and insisted that no firm decision had been taken on whether he would face disciplinary action.
“There are some people who are completely free to say what they like, but he’s not one of them,” said one. “Things are moving quickly.”
Lineker, whom the BBC paid £1.35mn in 2021-22, on Tuesday described as “immeasurably cruel” the government’s strategy on stopping small-boat crossings across the Channel. He also said on Twitter that the language being used about migrants was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
The new legislation, which the government has conceded might breach human rights laws, bars anyone considered to have entered the UK illegally from ever claiming asylum.
The BBC’s impartiality rules are open to some interpretation. Its social media guidance states that staff should not “advocate any particular position on a matter of public policy, political or industrial controversy, or any other ‘controversial subject’”.
While it also notes that “individuals who don’t deal with these [public policy] issues [in their work] may not be bound” by the social media restrictions, they “must still avoid bringing the BBC into disrepute”.
The broader overriding principle is “due” impartiality. This means programmes, contractors and staff have differing requirements based on the context.
The requirements are particularly tight in news, with journalists instructed in recent years not to participate in local meetings about traffic reorganisations near their homes, for instance. But they are less onerous for sports presenters such as Lineker.
The due impartiality requirement is also tempered by a requirement that the BBC respect fundamental democratic principles, including “rule of law”.
One person involved with the implementation of the broadcaster’s impartiality policy thought that this could help shield Lineker. “In theory, you can be perfectly impartial, but criticise the government for failure to uphold the rule of law,” he said.
But Lineker’s choice of language may yet cause him problems. One former senior news executive said: “If you put up a tweet saying you don’t agree with government policy, it’s one thing. Comparing the [rhetoric used by the] home secretary to the Nazis, that’s something else.”
Insiders said the row was complicated by the investigation into BBC chair Richard Sharp, who was recommended for the role by Boris Johnson shortly after helping the then prime minister arrange a personal loan for up to £800,000. Sharp has denied wrongdoing, but one person said the perception of his partisanship may have prevented “more robust action”.
Lineker, who was last year found to have breached impartiality guidelines over a tweet relating to the Conservative party’s acceptance of donations from Russians, has been cheered by the left but drawn fire from government ministers over his remarks.
Home secretary Suella Braverman, who introduced the illegal migration bill to parliament this week, told the BBC on Thursday that they were “lazy and unhelpful”. She added that her husband was Jewish and her family felt “very keenly the impact of the Holocaust”.
The BBC said it had “social media guidance, which is published. Individuals who work for us are aware of their responsibilities relating to social media. We have appropriate internal processes in place if required.”
