The MOTD presenter found himself in murky water
Gary Lineker found himself in a Twitter spat with a fellow BBC employee over impartiality rules.
The Match of the Day presenter hit out at the government over recent sewage discharges that have led to some beaches being shut off to the public and questions being raised about post-Brexit checks on water companies.
According to Mirror reports, 265 Tory MPs voted to allow such discharges to happen when they passed an Act to tighten the law last year.
An amendment that proposed a “duty” on water firms to take “reasonable steps to ensure untreated sewage is not discharged” from storm pipes was ripped apart as part of the Environment Bill, which removed several key responsibilities.
Taking to Twitter, Lineker tweeted a slightly oversimplified take on the matter, saying: “As a politician how could you ever, under any circumstances, bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!”
The tweet since racked up 46,000 likes, but was criticised by fellow BBC employee Neil Henderson, who asked whether Lineker has freedom to tweet about the matter because he has a “different contract” to his.
Lineker pointed out that impartiality rules only apply to news and current affairs, an argument which holds up on the basis of the below evidence:
But it’s murky.
In 2020, the MOTD star committed to adhering to new BBC impartiality rules after he signed a new five-year deal with the corporation.
At the time, the new director general, Tim Davie, admitted Lineker “knows he has a responsibility to the BBC in terms of social media”.
Lineker was quick to respond, tweeting: “Only Twitter can take people off Twitter”.
And the argument, seemingly, has continued…
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) August 23, 2022
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