Gary Lineker blasts Tory for ‘outrageous’ claim he called northern voters ‘bigots’

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker rubbished false claims from Tory MP Jonathan Gullis that he called northern voters ‘racist bigots, Nazis’ during illegal immigration bill row

Gary Lineker is returning to present Match of the Day(Getty Images)

Gary Lineker has blasted a Tory MP for “outrageous and dangerously provocative” claims that he called northern voters “racist bigots”.

The Match of the Day host rubbished comments from right-wing Tory Jonathan Gullis, who made the accusations during a TV interview where he boasted that he was not concerned with upsetting members of the “Twitterati”.

Mr Gullis, a former minister, told Channel 4 that Rishi Sunak’s hardline illegal immigration bill was “certainly tough and upset all the right people in the right places”.

“Let’s be clear, when I talk about upsetting people I’m talking about the Twitterati, the Wokerati of North Islington, those champagne socialists who pontificate all day,” he ranted.

“Those are the people I don’t care upsetting, because those are the people who want to call people up here racist bigots, Nazis, like Gary Lineker has done.”

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis tried to stoke anger towards Gary Lineker(Stoke Sentinel)

Responding to a clip of the exchange, another Twitter user wrote: “I don’t think Gary Lineker has actually directly called Red Wall voters ‘Nazis’ Mr Gullis.”

Mr Lineker replied: “No he hasn’t and never would. This is outrageous and dangerously provocative.”

The MOTD presenter will be back on TV this weekend after an explosive impartiality row triggered by his criticism of the Government’s small boats crackdown.

He was taken off air for a tweet saying the Government’s language around asylum seekers was similar to 1930s Germany, which triggered fury from Tories.

But the decision to ask him to step back from MOTD prompted a mass boycott by pundits and commentators, forcing the BBC to show 20 minutes of highlights without any commentary.

BBC director-general Tim Davie apologised for the row and said Mr Lineker “will abide by the editorial guidelines” until a review of the BBC’s social media policy is complete.

Gary Lineker has changed his Twitter picture to include a quote on freedom of speech

Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes told a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting that the past week had been a “really difficult episode for the BBC” but that she hoped “they can find their way through it”.

Since the row, Mr Lineker has changed his Twitter profile picture to a photo of himself next to a George Orwell quote, which is written on the wall outside of the BBC.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear,” the quote reads.

He also retweeted a video of former prime minister Theresa May criticising the Government’s proposed Immigration Bill in the House of Commons, describing it as a “blanket dismissal” of those facing persecution.