Gary Lineker claims he and BBC director general Tim Davie have a deal he can Tweet about refugees and climate change.
Lineker, 62, was suspended by the BBC for saying the government’s new asylum policy was ‘immeasurably cruel’ and language used was ‘not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s’.
But he said today he was not bothered people were reacting to that – because he feared some other scandal or terrible news had broken.
And in an extraordinary disclosure he revealed he and Davie had a previous agreement since September 2020 he could tweet about refugees and the climate.
Speaking on the The Rest is Politics podcast to Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, he added his politics drift from centre to a little left of centre, but he had voted for various parties in the past.
Lineker, on his BBC return, after being was suspended after posting government language was ‘like 30s Germany’
Lineker said he and BBC Director General Tim Davie had a deal that he could tweet about refugees and climate change
He said of the storm: ‘I’m still bewildered. I think it was so disproportionate.
‘There was the policy, which I kind of, when they spelled it, I thought ‘come on you’re going to send people to a country where perhaps they don’t want to go, that seems… I don’t think this is going to work, is it going to be legal?’ We all recognise this is a massive problem.
‘Then somebody replied – it was kind of an aggressive response. What I did was reply to them and at the end of it I added the line “some of the language used is not dissimilar to that used in the early Thirties in Germany”, which was never meant as any kind of comparison with the holocaust or anything like that.
‘I went to bed. I woke up the following morning. I don’t look at my phone til I’ve had a coffee. I sit drinking my coffee, I put my phone on. I get you know five WhatsApp messages – sometimes if the boys are chatting amongst themselves in our group chat it might go up to 20, 30 maybe.
‘So I wake up in the morning, looked at my phone. It’s got 237 WhatsApp messages. I’ve gone “Oh my God, what’s happened?”.
People wearing Gary Lineker masks march during a Stand Up To Racism protest on March 18 at George Square in Glasgow
Lineker’s tweet that started the entire saga that led to staff walkouts at the BBC after the corporation’s decision to boot the MOTD host off air
‘And I’ve really had really worried thoughts for a few seconds because I couldn’t think what it could possibly be.
‘And I thought either it’s some kind of scandal or has something happened to one of my kids.
‘I just went “Oh, thank god for that, that’s all it is. I don’t mind that”.
‘It didn’t bother me, I was ok. And it kind of spiralled silly-ly out of control.’
He continued: ‘My first thing was really “hang on a minute, I’ve not been abusive to anyone. I’ve not said anything particularly controversial”. I think it was factual.
‘I’m not saying at all our policies echo those of Germany, but sometimes some of the language is not dissimilar.
‘When I first met Tim Davie when he first brought in his guidelines, we had a discussion and I said to Tim ‘there are two things that I’ll continue to talk up on, that I will not back down on’.
‘And he agreed. One of them was about the refugee crisis and the other one was about climate change. I put this in that category.
‘Obviously all these things will be linked to politics. So all my argument here was ‘let’s have some empathy towards these poor people that are forced to flee persecution and war’.
‘We obviously can’t have everyone here – we all know that. Just have our fair share.
Gary Lineker (left) speaks to Alastair Campbell (right) as he arrives at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester to present live coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley on the BBC
‘Would I do it differently now? Probably after the furore that it’s caused. But I think that it’s true and factual so I don’t think impartiality comes into it.
‘I never contemplated it would be an issue at all.’
Asked about it becoming a major crisis for the BBC, he said: ‘It shouldn’t have been. I love the BBC. I’ve been there nearly 30 years.
‘But people make mistakes. They recognised that and they addressed it. And in the end thankfully we’re all back to work.’
Describing the outpouring of support for him afterwards as ‘beautiful’, he said: ‘It was funny. I was in a restaurant, and then in the back of the car, and firstly when Ian Wright pulled out of the show, and then when Alan did as well, Alan Shearer, and I must admit I had a tear in my eye.
‘Ian Wright when it first happened said ‘why is this an issue? If they do anything I’m not going on’.
‘It’s one thing saying that in a moment, but then actually to carry that through, they didn’t need to do that.
‘Then Alex Scott, then Jermaine Jenas, and Micah (Richards), and then all the commentators and then the match reporters, and even the footballers said they weren’t doing to do any (interviews).
‘It was like ‘my goodness, I think they’re doing it more for the cause’, but to get that kind of team spirit, that kind of camaraderie and togetherness, I mean it just moved me. It was beautiful.’
Lineker said there had been ‘lots of times’ when he had thought of posting tweets or saying something, but had not done so.
He said: ‘I have three rules. One I don’t tweet when I’ve had a drink. I don’t tweet when I’m angry, but I’m very, very rarely angry anyway.
‘And the third one is every tweet that I do I read it to myself back and if I have a one per cent doubt I don’t send it – which happens quite a lot.
‘And sometimes they’re really good jokes, and it annoys me. Or I think they’re really good jokes – no-one else does.’
Asked about his political leanings, he said: ‘I’ve voted for lots of different parties at different points for different reasons. I’m kind of your archetypal floating voter to be honest. I’m not kind of tribal in that sense.
‘People say ‘oh the lefties and all this’, I’m not particularly a leftie. I’m certainly not from the right. think I probably drift from centre to left a little bit of centre.’
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