Gary Lineker was incorrect to compare the Government's rhetoric over small boats to that of 1930’s Germany, David Baddiel has suggested, as he argued that the overuse of Nazi references could amount to “soft-core Holocaust denial”.
The Match of the Day presenter became embroiled in an impartiality row with the BBC after stating that Suella Braverman’s migrant plans constituted “an immeasurably cruel policy” presented in “language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”.
Baddiel has revealed that he wrote to Lineker to take issue with this comparison, which he has described as inaccurate.
The comedian and author has said inaccurate parallels risk becoming a “soft-core Holocaust denial”, whereby the genocidal actions of the Nazi state are referenced in relation to “all sorts of things that are not really comparable to the Holocaust”.
Speaking on the Rest is Politics podcast, operated by Lineker’s own production company, Baddiel explained that the Nazis pursued their policies against their own citizens, not an incoming population.
He said that the language used by Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts was a more accurate comparison, as: “They were using the language of invasion."
However, he added: “That is, I'm afraid, different from the language of the actual Nazis, and this is a key point, towards their own citizens.
"I've seen some people say 'well what difference does it make, they're all human beings?'. There is a difference.
"The Nazis turned their hate, extreme hate… on their own citizens. My grandfather had roots in Germany going back to the 19th century. They were Germans. They were not immigrants.
"So what would be equivalent is Suella Braverman saying to me, or any other minority group, living in Britain, 'you are vermin, you need to go, you can't marry a British citizen, you can't work'. She didn't do that.”
Baddiel added: “There's a sort of what Deborah Lipstadt calls 'soft-core Holocaust denial', and part of that is a tendency to use the Holocaust as an analogy for all sorts of things that are not really comparable to the Holocaust.
“The key element of that is, when Jews, which they often do, say that it is not really comparable, it gets a huge blowback from the Left.”
Rory Stewart, the podcast's host and a former Tory MP, seconded Baddiel, saying that current debate on small boats was not “redolent” of the way the Nazi state referred to its own citizens.
Lineker’s comments were unlikely to be related directly to the Holocaust itself, the genocidal machinery of which was launched and expanded during the Second World War, after a prolonged period of anti-Jewish discrimination during the Thirties.
Baddiel did defend Lineker’s right to voice his opinions, in comments which came after the Match of the Day host was temporarily taken off air for breaching impartiality guidelines at the BBC.
Tim Davie, the broadcaster’s director-general, has launched a review of impartiality guidance to clear up any “grey areas” in the rules around freelance talents like Lineker.
