Gary Lineker's biggest controversies as BBC's top earning presenter

Shamir Shah, BBC chairman elect, says Gary Lineker broke rules

Besides being known for his long-standing position as the host for Match of the Day, Gary Lineker has also garnered attention through publicising his political opinions.

This has sometimes led to controversy for the former football legend, as he had to be reminded that while working for the BBC, he could not be seen to be politically biased.

As Lineker prepares to leave his job with the broadcaster, here is a list of the political controversies he has been involved in over the years.

In 2018, Lineker came under fire for a series of tweets he posted criticising the Conservative government.

In one of them, he slammed the party, writing: “Imagine how hopeless you’d have to be to still be behind the Tory party in the polls. The absolute state of our politics.”

Gary Lineker has been involved in a slew of political controversies (Image: Getty)

BBC cricket presenter Jonathan Agnew complained that Lineker was not conducting himself appropriately as a representative of sport for the BBC, urging him to “observe BBC editorial guidelines”.

Then in 2022 Lineker faced a series of issues as he spoke out on the Russian-Ukraine war, the World Cup being hosted in Qatar, and sewage problems in the UK.

The BBC ruled that he breached impartiality guidelines over asking Liz Truss if her party planned to “hand back their donations from Russian donors” after war broke out between the Soviet superpower and Ukraine.

That took place in February, when she was still the foreign secretary.

The football pundit has strong political opinions and has not been afraid to voice them (Image: Getty)

In June he clashed with another foreign secretary, James Cleverly, over his requests for LGBT+ football fans to respect the rules of Qatar when attending the Euros.

The Middle Eastern country is known for having harsh penalties for homosexuality, and same-sex sexual activity is an imprisonable offence.

Lineker hit back against Cleverly’s suggestions that this should be tolerated, querying: “Whatever you do, don’t do anything Gay. Is that the message?”

He also called attention to Qatar’s violation of human rights policies while making an opening statement for the BBC’s coverage of the Euros.

This previously resulted in him being temporarily axed from Match of the Day (Image: Getty)

Later that same year, Lineker faced disapproval from BBC journalist Neil Henderson after a post he made saying: “As a politician how could you ever, under any circumstances, bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!”

Henderson sarcastically responded to his tweet asking if Lineker had a special contract that allowed him to breach the BBC’s impartiality clause.

In the broadcaster’s current public guidelines on their impartiality practises, they state: “Presenters, reporters and correspondents are the public face and voice of the BBC – they can have a significant impact on perceptions of whether due impartiality has been achieved.

“Our audiences should not be able to tell from BBC output the personal opinions of our journalists or news and current affairs presenters on matters of public policy, political or industrial controversy, or on ‘controversial subjects’ in any other area.

“They may provide professional judgements, rooted in evidence, but may not express personal views on such matters publicly, including in any BBC-branded output or on personal blogs and social media.”

Lineker went on to face even further backlash in 2023, when he compared the language used during the launch of a new government asylum seeker policy to the rhetoric in 1930s Germany.

This particular tweet had serious repercussions for his career, and he was removed as a Match of the Day host by the BBC after it gained attention.

However, this led to a mutiny from some of his fellow football pundits such as Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who boycotted the show hearing about Lineker’s axing.

He was then reinstated, but the BBC made new social media rules for their flagship presenters which stipulated that they are not allowed to make social media posts attacking specific political parties.

Earlier this year, Lineker told the Guardian that he had received threats after making his stance on the Israel Palestine conflict clear by retweeting a call for Israel to be banned from international sporting events.

He claimed this retweet was an accident, but added: “If you lean to one side or the other, the levels of attack are extraordinary. How could it be controversial to want peace? I just don’t understand it.

“You don’t need to be Islamophobic to condemn Hamas or antisemitic to condemn Israel. But at the moment it’s just awful. Awful.”