BBC BACKS DOWN
LONDON - Gary Lineker was yesterday begged by the BBC to return to hosting Match of the Day with no further punishment - or new bars on his tweeting - after bosses backed down over his anti-Tory posts and even offered him an apology for the fiasco.
In an extraordinary capitulation just 72 hours after taking him off air, Director General Tim Davie said sorry and agreed a peace deal with the footballer turned broadcaster (62), who will now present FA Cup quarter-final coverage this weekend.
MailOnline understands that those who walked out in support of the MotD host, including Alan Shearer, Ian Wright and Mark Chapman, will also face no action from BBC bosses, with Lineker thanking them for their ‘remarkable show of solidarity’.
It marks a huge victory for the former England captain, the corporation’s highest-paid star on £1.35 million a year, over the £5.3 billion a year budget BBC, in a crisis sparked by his tweets likening the government’s crackdown on migrants in small boats to 1930s Nazi Germany.
Lineker said he ‘cannot wait’ to be back on the BBC this weekend but was defiant in the face of criticism, suggesting some of his detractors are intolerant.
He tweeted: ‘‘However difficult the last few days have been, it simply doesn’t compare to having to flee your home from persecution or war to seek refuge in a land far away. It’s heartwarming to have seen the empathy towards their plight from so many of you. We remain a country of predominantly tolerant, welcoming and generous people. Thank you.’’
Davie, who is facing calls to resign over the debacle, has insisted he did ‘the right thing’ in asking Lineker to ‘step aside’ but admitted he had taken stock over the weekend and invited the star to return to work, blaming ‘confusion’ and ‘grey areas’ in the BBC’s social media guidance, which will now be reviewed.
But insiders have said that ‘ambiguities’in the presenter’s contract mean the corporation cannot force him to follow its rules, which prohibit staff members from making political comments. Lawyers are said to have advised the BBC that they could not sack him without a multi-million pound pay-off.