Offside rules
The 18 times he tweeted about politics since BBC warning
On trophy hunting (Jan 21): Labelled the activity “sickening” as he shared a petition to ban it.
Migrants (Jan 14): “Astonishing response from Braverman – utterly devoid of sensibility.”
Also on small boats (Mar 7): Agreed with someone who tweeted “they could ‘stop the boats’ tomorrow... but they don’t want to. They would rather have the optics and language of inflation to enrage their flagging base”.
On Brexit (Feb 28): Said Rishi Sunak’s single market access comments were “sensational. Not a hint of irony. Quite brilliant.”
Brexit (Feb 27): “See we’re getting Brexit done... again *fist emoji*.”
Culture wars (Feb 24): Shared a post by James O’brien accusing columnists such as Richard Littlejohn of “bigotries and insecurities” for pointing out the late John Motson “never lectured us” on social issues.
Rishi/liz (Feb 23): He joked “Do turnips outlast lettuces?” in response to Thérèse Coffey’s turnip comments and Liz Truss’s downfall.
Coffey’s turnip comments (Feb 23): “Been food shopping and I’m absolutely gutted that they’ve sold out of turnips. Been a rush on them, apparently.”
On Shamima Begum ruling (Feb 22): “She was a child. Manipulated and groomed. This feels very wrong.”
On migrants (Feb 20): Wrote “every word” in response to someone saying: “Every person I’ve met who has come to the UK wants to contribute, work and take care of their family. So why can’t we let them? Why leave them to fester in a hotel with the far-right screaming abuse at them? Give them legal status and get them going.”
On F1 banning political statements (Feb 15): “Well played Lewis Hamilton. No point having a huge platform if you don’t use it for good. Free speech and all...”
Brexit (Feb 15): “Another monster queue at customs at a European city next to deserted lanes for EU members. The delights of Brexit.”
On Lee Anderson (Feb 12): Retweeted a post by the host of the Left-wing political podcast The Trawl, which Lineker’s own company has bought out, that called Lee Anderson, the Tory chairman, “30p Lee”.
Lee Anderson (Feb 7): “Fantastic appointment. *laughing emoji* *laughing emoji*”
On tabloid newspapers (Feb 7): Retweeted a post that said “if the Express newspaper must be sold, it should be wrapped in brown paper and placed on the top shelf...”
On the Tories (Feb 7): Retweeted a post by hard-left Labour MP Nadia Whittome about BP profits and the need for a windfall tax. Lineker asked: “How do they get away with this avarice?” When someone wrote “because people keep voting for them”, he replied: “Indeed.”
On sewage (Jan 26): Retweeted Liberal Democrat list of Tory MPS who voted against their sewage amendment. Asked: “Why on earth would you do this?”
Nigel Farage (Jan 21): Replied to a Farage tweet with “love these parody accounts”.