The BBC has been accused of ‘sticking their head in the sand’ as Gary Lineker doubled down over his comments comparing the Government’s migrant crackdown to Nazi Germany.
As the corporation remained silent today over the controversy, Lineker defiantly resumed posting on social media this morning, saying he had never known such ‘love and support’.
The BBC is facing calls from MPs to sack the corporation’s highest-paid star, who is on £1.35 million a year, over the ‘outrageous slur’ he made in a tweet about Suella Braverman’s plan yesterday.
BBC insiders said director-general Tim Davie Lineker was facing one of the ‘biggest tests’ of his tenure and Lineker was ‘past the tipping point of causing us damage’.
Earlier today the BBC’s own media editor turned on Lineker and said the company was ‘walking a tightrope’ and the Match Of The Day star’s comments meant that ‘not for the first time, the pressure is mounting’.
Gary Lineker (pictured) ‘crossed a line’ by comparing Suella Braverman’s migrant crackdown to Nazi Germany, BBC sources said
BBC insiders said it was time for the corporation’s director-general, Tim Davie to ‘make a key call’ on Lineker, adding ‘it’s now about the mettle Tim has got’
The corporation’s highest-paid star, who is on £1.35million a year, will be rebuked by bosses for attacking the Home Secretary’s plans to ‘stop the boats’. Suella Braverman told BBC Breakfast today that Gary Lineker’s comments were disappointing
BBC Media Editor Katie Razzall (pictured) turned on Lineker and said the company was ‘walking a tightrope’ and the Match Of The Day star’s comments meant that ‘not for the first time, the pressure is mounting’
Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker compared the Government’s migrant crackdown to Nazi Germany
Many were amazed that rather than avoiding any further controversy, Lineker this morning was back on Twitter
Lineker was still doubling down on his comments on Wednesday evening. He shared a thread from an anti-Brexit professor that said: ‘The language we have heard from this Govt is not dissimilar in some ways to that used in 1930s Germany’
In an article for the BBC, Katie Razzall said it was ‘an understatement’ to say Gary Lineker’s tweets ’cause difficulty’ for the firm.
She admitted ‘the BBC is in a difficult position’ and revealed bosses said they had a ‘frank’ chat with Lineker.
She also slammed former Newsnight anchor Emily Maitlis for comparing Lineker’s comments about the government’s plan to stop migrants making illegal crossings to his concerns over Qatar’s alleged human rights abuses.
The BBC media editor said: ‘This is arguably a false equivalence.
‘Voicing an opinion on a government policy about migrant crossings, a divisive subject, is not the same thing as highlighting well-documented human rights breaches in Qatar, something which is a matter of fact.’
Poll
Should Gary Lineker be sacked?
- Yes 231 votes
- No 26 votes
Razzall said while Lineker was a sports presenter tweeting on his personal Twitter account, if a news presenter had commented in the way he has, ‘they would at the very least receive a very serious warning’.
Razzall noted that Lineker previously told Radio 4’s Media Show that the BBC’s rules ‘only apply to people in news and current affairs’, but said he tried to be ‘sensible’ and was ‘considerate’ to his employers.
She added: ‘Trust in the corporation is at the heart of this. It matters if the public believes its public service broadcaster doesn’t represent their views, or that the BBC is shaped by a particular perspective.’
BBC insiders said it was time for the corporation’s director-general Tim Davie to ‘make a key call’ on Lineker, adding ‘it’s now about the mettle Tim has got’.
Another BBC source said they expected Lineker to the leave the corporation over the row.
This comes amid reports that the Match of the Day host, 62, is not responding to BBC calls about the controversy and that he will not remove the tweet. But claims he was not responding to calls were refuted today.
In yesterday’s controversial the TV presenter had shared online a video of Suella Braverman outlining the Illegal Migration Bill, then accused her of promoting an ‘immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s’.
Rishi Sunak said migrant removal flights to Rwanda could begin by the summer
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel on Monday
One source at the BBC said journalists in the corporation’s news division were ‘boiling’ at the star’s social media posts, adding ‘impartiality must be sacrosanct’. There are concerns that Lineker is ‘harming the perception of the BBC overall’.
Talking to the corporation’s media editor Katie Razzall on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, presenter Nick Robinson said: ‘Let’s be clear, if you or I said something like this, we would be fired’.
He added that if Lineker says he will carry on in the same manner, ‘they’ve got to decide from the director general down whether they fire a guy who is very popular and very good at what he does.’
There is expectation that the director-general will have to handle the situation personally with Lineker.
Yesterday BBC News approached Mr Davie for comment on the issue, asking him how many ‘strikes’ the presenter has had so far.
He replied: ‘I wouldn’t talk specifically about individuals, I don’t think it’s right.
‘I think the BBC absolutely puts the highest value on impartiality and that’s clearly important to us.’
Many were amazed that rather than avoiding any further controversy, Lineker this morning was back on Twitter.
He wrote: ‘Morning all. Anything going on?’
He added: ‘Great to see the freedom of speech champions out in force this morning demanding silence from those with whom they disagree.’
‘I have never known such love and support in my life than I’m getting this morning (England World Cup goals aside, possibly),’ he also wrote. ‘I’ll continue to try and speak up for those poor souls that have no voice.’
Yesterday the BBC declined to comment on Lineker’s latest remarks.
The political pressure over his comments intensified today as Downing Street described the criticism as ‘not acceptable’ and ‘disappointing’, while the home secretary, Mrs Braverman, said his comments were ‘irresponsible’. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick added he was ‘so far out of step with the British public’.
Tory MP Peter Bone told The Mail+: ‘There is no point sticking their head in the sand and hoping it will go away. It won’t. He will do it again anyway.’
He added: ‘If they don’t reprimand Mr Lineker, then what they are saying their policy is, is not true.’
Conservative MP, Scott Benton, added: ‘The fact that the BBC has gone quiet on this issue is a shocking indictment of their leadership and it really is time they stood up and made it clear, that if somebody breaks their own code of conduct, on politicising issues such as this, they should be shown the door.’
Acting chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, Tory MP, Damian Green, told The Mail +: ‘Gary Lineker has become a serial offender against any guidelines the BBC seems to have. BBC management surely has to act this time.’
There were suggestions yesterday that Lineker would be rebuked ‘very promptly’ as it was clear a ‘line has been crossed’.
But today the corporation was sticking to its previous statement: ‘Individuals who work for us are aware of their responsibilities relating to social media. We have appropriate internal processes in place if required.’
Today the Prime Minister’s press secretary said: ‘It’s obviously disappointing to see someone whose salary is funded by hard-working British (licence fee) payers using that kind of rhetoric and seemingly dismissing their legitimate concerns that they have about small boats crossings and illegal migration.
‘But beyond that, it’s up to the BBC, who I think have said today that they’ll be having a conversation with Gary Lineker, and it’s not for me to comment further.’
Mrs Braverman had told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) she was ‘very disappointed’ by his comments.
She added: ‘Equating our measures – which are lawful, necessary and fundamentally compassionate – to 1930s Germany is irresponsible and I disagree with that characterisation.’
Asked if Lineker should resign or be sacked, she said: ‘That’s a matter for the BBC and they will resolve that.’
Mr Jenrick told Times Radio: ‘My children are the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and I think those sorts of words should not be thrown around lightly.
‘Gary Lineker is paid for by the British taxpayer and it’s disappointing that he is so far out of step with the British public.’
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper also said she did not think it is ‘right to make comparisons with the 1930s’ after the comments, but ‘people can have their own views’.
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