Gary Lineker leads celebrity campaign against Rwanda Bill – and risks fresh row with BBC

Gary Lineker has sparked a fresh BBC impartiality row by leading a campaign against the Government’s Rwanda Bill.

The Match of the Day host is among 32 high-profile figures who have signed a letter criticising Rishi Sunak’s deportation scheme, claiming the Government’s immigration policies “aren’t working for refugees and aren’t working for local communities”.

However, Lineker, the corporation’s highest-paid presenter with a salary of £1.35 million, has been accused of breaching BBC social media guidelines which limit him from intervening in party politics.

The corporation reformed its rules following a backlash over comments he made about Suella Braverman, the then home secretary, in March. However, he is still allowed to express his views on issues and policies as long as he stops short of political campaigning.

In remarks that accompanied the launch of the Fair Begins Here campaign, coordinated by the charity Together With Refugees, Lineker said: “We need a new system that reflects the will of the British people who have opened their homes, donated and volunteered in their local communities.”

Lineker’s involvement in the charity project has fuelled fresh calls for the broadcaster to sack him.

BBC told to make a decision

Dame Priti Patel, a former home secretary and the architect of the original Rwanda plan, said: “The BBC has a choice to make – whether it wants to continue to employ a political activist who just attacks the Government, or look at its own code of impartiality, which quite frankly the BBC has come under a lot of criticism over and quite rightly.

“It is right that we continue to pursue the Rwanda plan. We should raise all aspects of international standards when it comes to resettlement and work with all right-minded countries such as the government of Rwanda who believe in the fair resettlement of those who want to resettle in another country other than their own.”

Lee Anderson, a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, said: “What the people want is to stop the boats and to tell overpaid crisp salesmen to put a sock in it.

“Alongside cracking down on illegal migration, we need another robust system which keeps Lineker as far away from the public as possible, to give us all a rest from his Left-wing, out-of-touch nonsense.”

However, BBC sources insisted Lineker, like any other freelance presenter, is free to contribute to third-party projects provided that these do not conflict with his BBC commitments, breach conflict of interest guidelines or bring the channel into disrepute.

The 63-year-old briefly stepped back from his Match of the Day presenting duties in March after comparing words used by Mrs Braverman about migration to the language of Nazi Germany.

That sparked a review of the corporation’s social media guidelines for staff, with those who work in news, current affairs and factual journalism bound by the strictest rules.

Partisan campaigning

While Lineker is not allowed to endorse or attack political parties, he is nonetheless able to express his opinions as long as he does not veer into partisan campaigning.

Other signatories to the letter include Brian Cox, the Succession actor, and Lord Dannatt, a former head of the British Army.

The letter reads: “Tens of thousands of people are stuck in limbo waiting for their refugee protection to be processed, separated from their families and barred from working.

“These policies aren’t working for refugees and they aren’t working for local communities. That’s why we have come together to say we’ve had enough. Enough of the division. Enough of the short-term thinking. Enough of the wasted human potential. And it’s why we now call for something better.”

The row around Lineker’s latest political intervention came as several groups of backbench Tory MPs prepared to deliver their verdicts on Mr Sunak’s Rwanda Bill, which was unveiled last week and which the Prime Minister hopes can stem the tide of illegal Channel crossings.

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