During his career at the BBC, Gary Lineker has been the subject of criticism and rebuke on a number of occasions.
The Match Of The Day presenter, who last year was named as the BBC’s top earning on-air talent for the fifth consecutive year, has been vocal on Twitter about his political views.
A staunch opponent of Brexit, Lineker voiced support for a second referendum in 2018, and has also often tweeted about refugees and immigration policy.
In 2018, he was criticised by BBC colleague Jonathan Agnew, a mainstay of the broadcaster’s cricket coverage, after he posted a string of tweets about Brexit.
Agnew wrote: “Gary. You are the face of BBC Sport. Please observe BBC editorial guidelines and keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself.
“I’d be sacked if I followed your example. Thanks.”
In October 2020, Lineker said he had spoken to the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie “quite a few times in recent weeks” and that Mr Davie was “perfectly happy” with his conduct on social media.
His comments came after new guidelines and training were announced by the BBC to “ensure the highest possible standards of impartiality” among staff at the broadcaster.
In August 2022, senior BBC journalist Neil Henderson questioned whether Lineker had a contract allowing him to breach BBC impartiality after he tweeted about sewage being pumped into the sea.
Lineker had written: “As a politician how could you ever, under any circumstances, bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!”
Henderson later deleted his tweet and apologised.
In October 2022, the BBC found Lineker had breached its impartiality rules over a comment he made about the Conservative Party having “Russian donors”.
The investigation stemmed from a reader complaint made about the presenter’s tweet from earlier that year.
Lineker had shared an article about Liz Truss, then foreign secretary, urging Premier League teams to boycott the Champions League final in Russia, with the comment: “And her party will hand back their donations from Russian donors?”
The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) judged the post was intended to highlight a “perceived inconsistency in the Conservative Party’s approach, at a time when relations between the UK and Russia were the subject of significant public debate”.
On the same day the BBC ruled he had breached its impartiality rules, The Daily Mirror published an article in which he criticised the Home Office’s treatment of a refugee who he had hosted in his home.
The then-26-year-old man was caught up in a military coup and escaped 18 months of imprisonment. Lineker said he had then endured “hell” in the UK’s asylum system.
Later that month, Lineker criticised Foreign Secretary James Cleverly after he suggested LGBT football fans attending the World Cup in Qatar should be “respectful of the host nation”.
Mr Cleverly had urged fans to show “a little bit of flex and compromise” and to “respect the culture” of the host nation, where homosexuality remains a crime, prompting criticism from campaigners including Peter Tatchell.
Responding to his comments on Twitter, Lineker said: “Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message?”
In January 2023, then-culture secretary Michelle Donelan said the BBC should be “conscious” of recent comments made by Lineker.
Ms Donelan was speaking to The News Agents podcast about remarks Lineker had made on the same show about the World Cup in Qatar and racism in America.
“There is a problem with impartiality and the BBC, they would say that they’ve recognised that themselves,” she said.
Representatives of Lineker have been contacted for comment.
