His control was forced to turn 180 degrees BBCbringing back the famous host and the old legend of English football Gary Lineker after a public outcry and a mutiny of station journalists who protested his removal.

“Gary is an important part of the BBC and I know what the BBC means to Gary so I can’t wait for him to bring his show back next weekend,” said Tim Davey, the station’s CEO. Downing Street’s satisfaction with the settlement was expressed by Prime Minister’s spokesman Rishi Sunak, pointing to the political costs the Conservative government has collected for the conflict between BBC management and one of the biggest figures in English football. .

In his 16-year football career, Lineker did not see a single yellow or red card. However, the BBC leadership dared to do what the referee should not have done in the wake of the 62-year-old Lineker’s tweet, which sharply criticized the Sunak government for the new asylum policy it is launching.

The reason was a controversial government bill that would revoke the right of asylum to anyone who would henceforth arrive in Britain without documents and oblige the authorities to deport them either to their country of origin or to a third, safe country. . In a controversial tweet, Lineker called the government’s plan “endlessly cruel” and likened Interior Minister Suella Braverman’s rhetoric about migrants to that of “1930s Germany.” The reaction from the British right was immediate and furious. The government called Lineker’s comparison “insulting and unacceptable” and some Conservative MPs called for him to be removed from office. Conservatively tinted and persistent criticism from the BBC Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail newspapers raised the tone, recalling that Lineker is the highest paid producer of a radio station that should be politically impartial because it works for taxpayer contributions (every Briton who owns a TV). the recipient is required to pay an annual fee of £159, i.e. €180).

“white strike”

The former England captain has criticized the Sunak government’s anti-immigration policies.

Last Saturday was not like all the previous ones. Instead of 90 minutes of intense spectacle, commentary and football analysis, the show presented by Lineker was reduced to a poor twenty-minute hasty collage of the best moments, nothing more. Cause; Not a single presenter agreed to take Lineker’s place, and ordinary experts and commentators staged a “white strike” along with journalists in support.

After his recovery, Lineker expressed his satisfaction that the issue had been resolved, but did not fail to return to the plight of political refugees in a new message to his 8.8 million Twitter followers. The Lineker case prompted the opposition to renew their objections to the choice of government at the BBC: Davey was the Conservative candidate in local elections, and the channel’s chairman, Richard Sharpe, helped Boris Johnson secure a bank loan.

Questions about the channel

The station’s objectivity is also being called into question by reports of the broadcast of another highly influential TV presenter, David Attenborough, world-famous for his science documentaries. The Guardian wrote that the 96-year-old producer’s new BBC series The Wild Islands will be five episodes instead of six as originally planned, as the last one, which dealt with environmental disasters in the United Kingdom, was cut from -for fear of a backlash from Conservative deputies and the media. The channel’s management said that the program originally had five episodes of BBC free-to-air television, with a sixth episode to be shown on the iPlayer subscription service.

Football player and activist

Gary Winston (named after Churchill because they share the same birthday, November 30) Lineker, born 1960, former professional football player and current host of the TV program Match of the Day since the late 1990s. This is the longest career sportswriter on the hugely popular BBC sports show. He started his football career at Leicester City in 1978 and is England’s all-time goalscorer in the World Cup. He never received a yellow or red card in his 16-year career in English football, in which he was the top scorer of three teams: Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. He was married twice, and by his first wife, Michelle Cokayne, they had four sons. The elder was cured of a rare form of leukemia, and since then Lineker has systematically supported organizations dealing with childhood cancer. In 2017, his name was published in the Panama Papers in connection with his attempt to avoid paying taxes by setting up a company in the British Virgin Islands. He is especially active on Twitter, where he expresses his political views. In 2016, he was named “the strongest voice of the British Left”. He was a fanatical supporter of the country’s stay in the EU. and he is traditionally hostile to Tory anti-immigration policies, as evidenced by his latest episode of conflict with the government.

Statements discussed

“Football is a simple game. Twenty-two people chasing the ball for 90 minutes, and in the end the Germans always win ”(after the defeat of England by Germany in the semi-finals of the World Cup).
1990

“I only work on Saturdays, so my weekdays are probably free.”
2014

“I love Europe, I like being part of Europe. Vote Remain’ (on Twitter a few days before the Brexit referendum).
June 2016

“The behavior of some towards young refugees is appalling, racist and inhumane. What happened to our country? (after a Conservative MP suggested that refugees undergo dental examinations to count
his age).
October 2016

“Football is losing heart and sense of humor.”
2017

“Some things are more important than football” (support for the second referendum on Brexit).
2018

“I am so ashamed to share my love secrets, although I wrote an ode to Danielle. It’s more comical than romantic. The reception was good, but that was before he started reading Shakespeare at drama school. Now I feel so awkward.”
2018

“How can a politician vote to dump sewage into the sea? Unthinkable” (on Twitter, where he was criticized for violating the BBC’s impartiality rules).
August 2022

“Will the Conservative Party return donations received from Russian donors?” (on Twitter in response to then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss’ claim that English football teams should not play in the Champions League final due to the invasion of Ukraine).
October 2022

“An incredibly racist country” (a description for the US when, speaking on a podcast show, he wanted to prove that his criticism was directed not only at the organizers of the World Cup in Qatar, as the Gulf state’s foreign ministry accused him).
December 2022