The BBC can’t afford to let this dispute go to extra time
Tim Davie was asked at a recent business conference if he had any leadership advice for fellow chief executives. He recommended slipping away from the office for some quiet contemplation. “Your best time is probably just sitting in a café and spending half an hour thinking, ‘Where am I? What is going on here?’” Expect to see Mr Davie in a Starbucks near New Broadcasting House this week, asking himself those very questions as he faces the biggest headache of his career: what to do about Gary Lineker.
Well-accustomed to being under attack from the Right, the corporation is now being assailed by the Left, who accuse Mr Davie of caving in to the Government. More worryingly for BBC management, the decision to suspend Lineker from Match of the Day has caused a staff mutiny. This no longer just affects one man and his £1.35million salary. The reporters who refused to work on Final Score in solidarity with Lineker pointed out that many of them are freelancers, paid per game, and had sacrificed their pay to support him. BBC insiders say the issue will be resolved one way or another this week. A second weekend of sporting disruption would continue the public relations disaster. Further talks with Lineker and his agent will take place tomorrow, but the chances of the former player climbing down are slim. He could choose to walk away, making a noble speech about putting his conscience before his career and the needs of Britain’s public service broadcaster before his own. But Lineker could also stand firm, leaving the corporation with two options: back down or sack him.
The first option would mean humiliation for Mr Davie and be taken as proof that the BBC cannot manage its stars. The second could prove expensive –Lineker’s contract has three years left to run and his lawyers would enter negotiations feeling confident that they can rip the broadcaster’s arbitrarily applied guidelines to shreds – and would risk the corporation losing the support of the people most naturally inclined to defend it.
Mr Davie has backed himself into a corner by making impartiality the central plank of BBC policy in an attempt to mollify the government.
For years, the BBC maintained that Lineker was allowed to say what he liked because he was a sports presenter, and rules on impartiality applied only to those working in news. But the rules were changed shortly after Mr Davie’s appointment in 2020 to include those whose “high profile” brought additional responsibilities. This was, essentially, the Gary Lineker Clause, drafted to cover the highest-profile, highest-paid presenter on the books.
The BBC needs to clarify these rules, which are confusingly divided into guidelines and guidance, and subject to interpretation. Lineker’s supporters ask why Lord Sugar is allowed to make political pronouncements; the BBC privately makes the distinction that Lineker is a figurehead of the organisation, the face of its sports coverage and someone who appears on screen for most weeks of the year, while Lord Sugar fronts one series, The Apprentice, for a couple of months at a time. But these are shades of grey, and applying the rules to presenters on a case-by-case basis has led to the current debacle.
Mr Davie hinted last night that there could be a middle way: the BBC admits that its guidelines were unhelpful, or amends them to give Lineker more leeway, and he concedes that he went slightly over-the-top with his Nazi analogy. An unsatisfactory solution all round, but one which would end the conflict.
While Lineker considers whether he should resign, many have pointed out it looks grossly unfair for the BBC to take action against Lineker, while Richard Sharp continues in his post despite failing to disclose any involvement in an £800,000 loan arrangement for Boris Johnson. His appointment is currently subject to an independent investigation but if Mr Sharp were to stand down now, ahead of its findings, it would take some of the heat out of the current row. But the BBC has no powers to remove him; only the Government can do that.