Lineker: BBC impartiality ‘unresolvable’
BBC presenter Gary Lineker claims impartiality at the corporation is “almost unresolvable” and questions whether the Government’s migration policy “will actually be legal”.
The Match of Day host spoke out last night as he insisted again he has no regrets about his tweet comparing Tory language about migrants to that used in 1930s Germany, which resulted in him being briefly suspended by his employer. Lineker, 62, was speaking in Rome as he received a Sport and Human Rights Award from Amnesty International.
He believes he would not have been suspended if his tweet had been in favour of the Government.
The BBC’s director generalTim Davie denied caving in to political pressure and ordered a review into the corporation’s social media use.
Former football star Lineker, who has housed two refugees, said his boss had “an incredibly difficult job” but added: “Impartiality is really tricky at the BBC. It’s an issue that is almost unresolvable.”
Referring to his infamous tweet, he told Channel 4 News: “This does cross into a political area where it’s talking about the Government.
“I disagree with their policy. I don’t know whether it will actually be even legal.We’ll see if anyone does go there. But it’s more about [the] language sometimes used – like ‘criminals’, ‘rapists’, ‘invasions’ and ‘swarms’. All I was asking for was a little bit of kindness.”
In response to critics who say as the BBC’s highest paid presenter he should not speak out, Lineker said: “I don’t see how much someone’s salary is relevant in any way as to whether you have an opinion.”