Gary Lineker is the left-wing ‘Tucker Carlson of the UK’ who is ‘making money out of the gullible’, furious BBC colleagues say after Match of the Day host taunted Grand Shapps and offered to help Lee Anderson get a job with Walker’s Crisps
- Pundit drew fire from insiders who claim he doesn’t care about the corporation
Gary Lineker is ‘the Tucker Carlson of the UK’ who is ‘making money out of the gullible’, furious BBC colleagues say after the Match of the Day host taunted Grant Shapps and offered to help Lee Anderson get a job with Walker’s Crisps.
The controversial pundit, 63, has drawn fire from insiders as they claim the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines are fit for purpose – but he doesn’t care about the corporation at a time that it is facing a £90million hold in its budget.
It is understood that chiefs ‘spoke to’ left-wing Lineker – who is paid £1.35 million – this week about his tweets after he came under fire for signing an open letter criticising the Rwanda scheme.
And earlier this week Samir Shah, who is the Government’s choice to take over the BBC, told MPs that he thought the Match of the Day star’s social media post ‘on the face of it’ breached impartiality guidelines.
One BBC presenter said that Mr Lineker’s colleagues are ‘sick’ of his behaviour.
They told The Times: ‘People are sick of it. He doesn’t care that the BBC has more important things to deal with. Personal brands count for so much more now. He’s the Tucker Carlson of the UK. Both are making money out of the gullible.’
Right-wing broadcaster Carlson is known for his controversial views – and was sacked by Fox in the aftermath of the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, after they sued the broadcaster for $1.6billion for pushing President Trump’s election fraud claims.
Linekar, who is also thought to be irreplaceable to the BBC, rather has staunchly defended his left-wing views.
Another BBC insider said the pundit is the one at fault – rather than the BBC guidelines.
They said: ‘He had the freedom to express his passionately held views. All he was asked was not to attack other people — not least those who have been elected to express their opinions.
‘He is tweaking the tail all the time. People are frustrated and feel as if they have been through it all before. They are saying that it makes us look daft when everyone else is obeying the rules.
‘The BBC has so many more important things to do. It doesn’t need this at a time when the licence fee is much less than it thought and it needs to get out there and argue its case. It’s a complete distraction.’
Lineker has come up against opposition on social media this week, after he shared a collage of four images of Mr Shapps, all captioned with a different name, on X after the Defence Secretary questioned whether the BBC star should be expressing political views.
He was hitting back after the Defence Secretary questioned whether the Match Of The Day host should express political views, claiming the 63-year-old ‘should stick to football and stop meddling in other matters’.
The former England striker has also hit out at Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, who accused Lineker of breaching the BBC’s impartiality rules last week.
He wrote on social media: ‘Jonathan hasn’t read the new guidelines… or, should I say, had someone read them to him?’
And after Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson called Lineker an ‘overpaid crisp salesmen’ that needs ‘to put a sock in it’ the pundit offered to help him get a job with Walker’s Crisps if he loses his seat.
Speaking on social media, he said: ‘I guess we’ll find out what the will of the British people is at the next general election. If you do end up out of work, I’ll put in a word for you with Walkers Crisps.’
On Wednesday incoming BBC chairman Samir Shah told MPs that he thought the Match of the Day star’s social media post ‘on the face of it’ breached impartiality guidelines.
Shah’s predecessor, Richard Sharp, resigned from the role after failing to declare his connection to an £800,000 loan made to Boris Johnson.
He appeared to also swipe at the former footballer-turned-broadcaster by saying Lineker had not been ‘helpful’ by signing an open letter calling for Rishi Sunak’s Government to scrap its Rwanda scheme.
Though insisting that Lineker signing of the letter had not broken any of the BBC’s rules, Mr Shah believed that the star had breached guidelines at the ‘third opportunity’ in taunting Mr Shapps.
He said: ‘I don’t think it was very helpful either for Gary Lineker or the BBC or the cause he supports because it becomes a story about Gary Linker and the BBC. As far as I’m aware, the signing of the letter did not breach those guidelines.
‘But the more recent tweet in which he identifies a politician does, on the face of it, seem to breach those guidelines. I’m not sure how egregious it is but I imagine the BBC is looking into it and considering its response.’
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘We aren’t going to comment on individuals or indeed individual tweets.
‘While the guidance does allow people to talk about issues that matter to them, it is also clear that individuals should be civil and not call into question anyone’s character. We discuss issues that arise with presenters as necessary.’
Earlier this year a number of BBC sport presenters, pundits, and commentators, went off-air in support of Lineker after he ‘stepped back’ from hosting Match of the Day following a backlash over comments made about the Government’s rhetoric around immigration.
In a tweet he called Ms Braverman’s measures to stop the small boats ‘beyond awful’ and ‘an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s…’
Later, amid calls for him to be fired, the BBC star doubled down and said he would ‘continue to try and speak out’.
Last year Lineker also spoke out in support of Just Stop Oil, saying that ‘history will look back very favourably on these people’ after protesters stormed the British Grand Prix.
