Loose Women’s Janet Street-Porter described the impartiality row between the BBC and Gary Lineker as a battle of egos after the broadcaster confirmed he would return to present Match of the Day.
BBC director general Tim Davie announced an independent review will be carried out on social media guidelines after Lineker was taken off air after tweeted criticism of the government's new asylum policy.
The weekend football coverage on the BBC faced major disruption amid staff walkouts due to Lineker's suspension and he has now thanked his colleagues for their ‘incredible support’.
The Loose Women panel discussed the latest developments in the row, with host Ruth Langsford saying Lineker and Davie appeared to have ‘kissed and made up’, before asking panellist Janet: “Is it 1-0 to Gary?"
Janet said: “I tend to think it’s a typically British compromise, with neither bloke losing face, because it was all about who was going to lose their face.
“I think Tim Davie saying he’s instituting a review of the guidelines is fascinating because these are the guidelines he only introduced in 2020 – not even three years ago.”
Host Ruth noted that might have been because the number of freelancers they now have has increased.
Janet went on to say that ‘nobody comes out of this very well’, adding: “The BBC looks defensive and Gary looks cocky. If you want my opinion, he’s a little bit too pleased with himself.”
Janet then read out Lineker’s statement posted to Twitter, noting there was ‘no real apology’ in the post, which described the last few days as ‘surreal’.
She said: “He’s more or less repeated what he said in the first place that caused the initial row. Then he ends up with a little bit of obsequious fawning to thank Tim Davie.”
She continued: “Gary is great at his job. I agree with everything Gary has said. I just think dragging in the Nazis was a bad idea,” before Ruth clarified that he had referred to 1930s Germany in his initial tweet, as opposed to the Nazis.
Janet concluded: “If anyone’s benefited out of all of this, it’s Gary,” as Ruth added: “I think the issue wasn’t what he said it was should he be allowed to say it on his private Twitter account, his views.”
