AFPGary Lineker
NOS News•today, 11:28•Changed today, 11:37
BBC presenter Gary Lineker is again under fire for posts on social media. With his comments, Lineker is said to have violated the opinion rules of the British public broadcaster.
Samir Shah, the proposed new chairman of the BBC’s supervisory board, has told a parliamentary committee that it appears that the former footballer’s statements on
Former football player and Match of the Daypresenter Lineker had photo’s by Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, along with several names that Shapps is said to have used in the past. For example, Shapps is said to have breached the code of conduct for ministers and MPs by continuing to work as a marketer under the pseudonym Michael Green after joining parliament.
Lineker’s post on X was another response to Shapps’ comments. At a press conference, the minister criticized British prominent figures who had signed a letter calling for the controversial Rwanda plan to be scrapped. Speaking about Lineker, Shapps said: “I think Gary Lineker should continue commentating on football and stop getting involved in other matters.”
Rwanda-plan
The Rwanda plan should allow asylum seekers from the UK to be sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket. An earlier scheme was declared illegal by the UK Supreme Court. According to the judges, Rwanda was not a safe destination for asylum seekers.
Since then, the UK and Rwanda have signed a treaty aimed at guaranteeing the protection of asylum seekers. A controversial migration law intended to revive the Rwanda plan survived a first vote in the House of Commons this week. Before the law comes into effect, more votes are needed in the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Samir Shah also told the committee that it “didn’t help” that the presenter had signed the letter. “I don’t think it was very useful for Gary Lineker or the BBC, or for the cause he supports, because it becomes a story about Gary Lineker and the BBC,” he said.
The BBC presented in September new rules about how top presenters can express their opinions on social media. These agreements were necessary because Lineker had become discredited due to criticism of Prime Minister Sunak’s asylum policy.
Lineker spoke on Twitter in March of a brutal policy that was “not much different from that of Germany in the 1930s”. After a storm of criticism, the football presenter was suspended by the BBC.
That in turn led to a boom in support for him: analysts and presenters refused to work as long as Lineker remained off the screen. The BBC then acknowledged that its social media policy was ambiguous and had “grey areas”. For example, Lineker relied on the fact that he is a freelancer and also covers sports on the public broadcaster and is not a political reporter.
‘Guidelines not read’
According to the new rules, prominent presenters are prohibited from attacking or supporting a political party while their program is running and two weeks before and after. They are also not allowed to criticize individual British politicians, speak out on controversial topics during election times or play an official role within a campaign.
Lineker, the big earner is at the BBC with a salary of approximately 1.57 million euros, insists that he has followed the guidelines. He has also criticized Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, who accused the TV presenter of breaching the BBC’s impartiality rules. Lineker wrote on X: “Jonathan hasn’t read the new guidelines… or should I say, has anyone read them to him?”
2023-12-14 10:28:16
#Gary #Lineker #discredited #comments #Minister #Shapps
