BBC fears it cannot sack Lineker or force him to follow social media rules
Exclusive: Presenter is on a two-year contract negotiated before current director general was appointed
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The BBC fears it cannot sack Gary Lineker or force him to follow social media rules on impartiality because of ambiguities in his contract, The Independent understands.
The corporation would be forced to pay millions if they wanted to oust Lineker and would probably lose any legal claim brought by the Match of the Day presenter, senior figures believe.
Lineker, who was forced off air after comparing the government's asylum policy to language used in 1930s Germany, is understood to be on a two-year contract negotiated before current director general Tim Davie was appointed.
Mr Davie has repeatedly emphasised the importance of the BBCās impartiality and led a crackdown on BBC stars making political comments on social media.
But Linekerās contract was already in place and has not been updated, handing an important advantage to the presenter as the dispute intensifies.
Lineker is following the letter of his contract but not the spirit of the rules imposed on presenters, a senior BBC figure told The Independent.
Bosses now hope to renegotiate their agreement with Lineker and put clearer rules in place to allow him to return to work.
Senior corporation figures understand this has now exploded into a free speech row, which they want to shut down.
![Gary Lineker at the King Power Stadium on Saturday](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/03/11/15/2951e7330370d217be8b1ef6eb35fecdY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjc4NjM0NDIz-2.71335637.jpg)
The decision by the BBC to stand down Lineker from its flagship football programme has prompted a mass pundit boycott, with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright both revealing on Friday they would not take part in MOTD on Saturday.
On Saturday, fellow sports presenters including Alex Scott, Kelly Somers and Jason Mohammad said they were pulling out of their shows, which resulted in Football Focus and Final Score being scrapped from the BBC One schedule.
Labour leader Keir Starmer told broadcasters at Welsh Labourās conference in Llandudno that the BBC ācaving inā to Tory MPs in the ongoing row is āthe opposite of impartialā.
He said: āThe BBC is not acting impartially by caving in to Tory MPs who are complaining about Gary Lineker.
āThey got this one badly wrong and now theyāre very, very exposed.
![The BBC chair Richard Sharp](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/02/14/07/0563465556e7997c557f1e099186e19cY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNjc2NDQ2NTIw-2.57416045.jpg)
āAs is the government, because at the heart of this is the governmentās failure on the asylum system. And rather than take responsibility for the mess theyāve made, the government is casting around to blame anybody else ā Gary Lineker, the BBC, civil servants, the āblobā.
āWhat they should be doing is standing up, accepting theyāve broken the asylum system, and telling us what theyāre going to do to actually fix it, not whingeing on about Gary Lineker.ā
In a statement on Saturday afternoon the BBC apologised and said it would air only ālimited sport programmingā over the weekend and was āworking hard to resolve the situationā.
The row over impartiality has been exacerbated by the BBCās chair, Richard Sharp, after a committee of MPs found he made āsignificant errors of judgementā by failing to declare his role in facilitating an Ā£800,000 loan for Boris Johnson weeks before the then-prime minister recommended him for the role.
The damning parliamentary report said Mr Sharp ā a multi-millionaire and long-time Tory donor ā should āconsider the impact of his omissionsā on trust in the BBC. Mr Sharpās appointment is currently being investigated by the commissioner for public appointments.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments