The BBC announced on Monday March 13 the return to the air of ex-footballer Gary Lineker, one of the group’s most famous presenters, whose suspension on Friday following a tweet criticizing the government provoked indignant reactions. “Gary is an important part of the BBC and I know how much the BBC means to him, and I look forward to him presenting our show next weekend”BBC director-general Tim Davie said in a statement.
Gary Lineker, 62, was sacked on Friday after criticizing the Conservative government’s bill to prevent migrants arriving through the English Channel from seeking asylum in the UK, a plan denounced as far as the UN . Very active on Twitter, where he has 8.8 million subscribers, he had denounced “a cruel policy aimed at the most vulnerable, in a language not unlike that used by Germany in the 1930s”.
@a_webb @secrettory12 There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries. This… https://t.co/dbrWxNDvaK
British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Sunday that he wanted “The BBC retains its reputation for independence and impartiality”. The BBC is regularly attacked by the conservatives, who accuse it in particular of having covered Brexit in a biased way and of being interested in the urban elites more than the working classes. The opposition, for its part, criticized the BBC for having bowed to the pressure of power by suspending Mr. Lineker.