Rishi Sunak urges ‘talented’ Gary Lineker and the BBC to resolve their dispute in a timely manner as he makes defence of government’s controversial new immigration bill
Rishi Sunak has urged ‘talented’ Gary Lineker and the BBC to resolve their dispute as he defended the government’s controversial immigration bill.
The PM said the row surrounding Gary Lineker and the BBC is ‘a matter for them, not the Government’ as he acknowledged ‘not everyone will always agree’ with his new asylum policy.
The controversy, which has involved the broadcaster taking the sports pundit off air, began when Lineker branded the Government’s plans to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel as ‘immeasurably cruel’ and compared the language used to launch the policy with 1930s Germany.
Commenting for the first time since the BBC stood Lineker down from Match Of The Day hosting duties, the Prime Minister said he hopes the dispute can be ‘resolved in a timely manner’.
He continued to defend his proposals to permanently ban asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on unauthorised small boats.
Rishi Sunak has urged ‘talented’ Gary Lineker and the BBC to resolve their dispute as he defended the government’s controversial immigration bill
The controversy, which has involved the broadcaster taking the sports pundit off air, began when Lineker branded the Government’s plans to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel as ‘immeasurably cruel’ and compared the language used to launch the policy with 1930s Germany
The PM continued to defend his proposals to permanently ban asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on unauthorised small boats.
In a statement, Mr Sunak said: ‘As Prime Minister, I have to do what I believe is right, respecting that not everyone will always agree. That is why I have been unequivocal in my approach to stopping the boats.
‘Gary Lineker was a great footballer and is a talented presenter. I hope that the current situation between Gary Lineker and the BBC can be resolved in a timely manner, but it is rightly a matter for them, not the Government.
‘While that process is ongoing, it is important that we maintain perspective, particularly given the seriousness of the issue at hand. Forty-five thousand people crossed the channel illegally last year, many of whom have been exploited or trafficked by criminal gangs, putting their lives in danger.
Match of the Day will last just 20 minutes tonight with no Gary Lineker, no commentary and no pundits following a day of chaos for the BBC
Leicester fan Gary Lineker was at the King Power Stadium to watch his boyhood club host Chelsea. He cheered after Chelsea’s goal was disallowed following a VAR review
Gary Lineker’s comments comparing Suella Braverman’s clampdown on Channel migrants to Nazi Germany is just the latest in a long list of divisive political interventions
This is Lineker’s ‘Nazi’ jibe tweet that started the entire saga that has led to staff walkouts at the BBC after the corporation’s decision to boot the MOTD host off air
‘We need to break this cycle of misery once and for all and the policy we set out this week I believe aims to do just that. It is not only the fair and moral thing to do, it is also the compassionate thing to do.
‘There are no easy answers to solving this problem, but I believe leadership is about taking the tough decisions to fix problems. I know not everyone will always agree, but I do believe this is fair and right.’
The saga started when the Match of the Day host, 62, shared online a video of Mrs Braverman announcing details of her new Illegal Migration Bill with the comment, ‘Good heavens, this is beyond awful’.
He then used his Twitter account, with 8.6million followers, to describe the measures to tackle the migrant crisis as ‘immeasurably cruel’.
When another user accused him of being ‘out of order’, the former England footballer, who has previously been rebuked for other anti-Tory comments, responded: ‘There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.
‘This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?’