Incoming chairman Samir Shah says he imagines the BBC is “considering its response”.

By Molly Moss

Published: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 at 13:53 PM


The BBC’s incoming chairman has suggested that Gary Lineker’s posts criticising Conservative politicians “seem to breach” the corporation’s social media rules.

Samir Shah said that the Match of the Day host appeared to have broken the rules by criticising MPs Grant Shapps, Jonathan Gullis and Lee Anderson.

The row was sparked when Lineker added his name to an open letter calling for the Government to scrap its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda earlier this week.

“I would imagine the BBC is now looking into that and considering its response,” Shah told Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Wednesday morning (13th December).

Lineker signed a letter calling on the government to create a “fair new plan for refugees” on Monday, sparking outrage among the Conservative MPs, who accused him of breaching the BBC’s impartiality rules.

Anderson said of Lineker on X (formerly Twitter): “For once in his life, Gary’s absolutely right – we do need a system that reflects the will of the British people. What the people want is to stop the boats and to tell overpaid crisp salesmen to put a sock in it.

“Alongside cracking down on illegal migration, we need another robust system which keeps Lineker as far away from the public as possible, to give us all a rest from his left wing out of touch nonsense.”