Gary Lineker news – live: Match of the Day presenter to return as faith in Tim Davie ‘at all-time low’

The director-general at the BBC, Tim Davie, has announced a review into social media guidelines as he recognised “the potential confusion caused by the grey areas” of the guidance, following the recent impartiality row over a tweet by Gary Lineker.

Ahead of the recently announced review, we look at what we know so far and how the review may be conducted based on the 2020 update.

Ian Wright has said “heads have got to roll” after managers at the BBC caused a “hot mess” at the weekend by asking Gary Lineker to step away from Match Of The Day.

During the beginning of the podcast Wrighty’s House, the 59-year-old said the row had been a “perfect distraction from what really matters”.

He added: “For me, they made a hot mess. I’m telling you, this is all from high up, I can’t blame my man (the head of BBC TV Sport) Philip Bernie, the BBC Sports team. All of this is over a tweet.”

Charlotte McLaughlin has the full report:

Rishi Sunak must “stand up to his snowflake MPs waging war on free speech” following the Gary Lineker row, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Labour leader sought assurances that Conservative MPs or others connected to the party did not lobby the BBC to “effectively cancel” Match of the Day last weekend.

The Match of the Day theme tune interrupted a BBC News interview outside parliament earlier this week.

As Tory MP Harriett Baldwin spoke about the Budget, she was drowned out by the iconic music from the famous football highlights programme.

It was blasted out around Westminster following the controversy surrounding the BBC and presenter Gary Lineker, who was told to step aside from last weekend’s Match of the Day after tweeting criticism about the government’s asylum policy.

My colleague Oliver Browning has more details:

Faith in BBC director-general Tim Davie is at an “all-time low” after the suspension and reinstatement of presenter Gary Lineker, a Union of Journalists official has said.

BBC programming was hit by strikes earlier this week, in which around 1,000 journalists were forecast to take part.

Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell – who was among those on a picket line outside Broadcasting House on Wednesday – said that BBC journalists had been “forced to strike” by proposed cuts to local radio.

Roger Mosey, a former head of BBC television news and director of sport, has said the next BBC chair should not be a “political appointment” – claiming it would be a “great act of statesmanship” for Rishi Sunak to de-politicise the appointment.

It comes amid debate about the position of BBC chair Richard Sharp, who is subject to an ongoing review after it emerged he helped former prime minister Boris Johnson secure an £800,000 loan facility.

Speaking on Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch podcast, Mr Mosey said it would be “an enormous gain” to have the future chairman be “someone who is not seen as being in a pocket of one party or another”.

Questions about Mr Sharp’s position as BBC chairman have mounted following the recent impartiality row over tweets sent by Gary Lineker comparing the government’s language around asylum to that of Germany in the 1930s.

Gary Lineker believed he had a “special arrangement” with the BBC allowing him to make comments about refugees and the small boats crisis, his agent has claimed.

Jon Holmes represents the football presenter, described the row as descending into “shambles” despite efforts to have “everyone calm down.”

He has claimed that his client believed he had an understanding with Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, that he could make public statements on certain issues.

My colleague Thomas Kingsley has the full report:

Gary Lineker has hit back at a Conservative MP who falsely suggested that the BBC presenter had called so-called “red wall” voters in the north and Midlands “Nazis” and “racist bigots”, our political correspondent Adam Forrest reports.

Jonathan Gullis, Tory MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said Rishi Sunak’s planned small boats crackdown had “upset all the right people in the right places”.

Reacting to a clip of the interview, Twitter user Simon Harris said: “I don’t think Gary Lineker has actually directly called red wall voters ‘Nazis’ Mr Gullis.”

Lineker then replied himself, tweeting: “No he hasn’t and never would. This is outrageous and dangerously provocative.”