Gary Lineker Match Of The Day presenter in the BBC since 1999 has criticized UK government policy on asylum. The tough asylum policy arose from measures to curb number of people arriving in the UK illegally. These measures were put in place to address a rise in the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats, numbers which have risen to 45,000 over the past year. Gary Lineker reaction to the policy has caused a major uproar not only in the UK political atmosphere, but in sports especially in the BBC following suspension from the show he has been presenting for more than two decades, it has received mix feelings from the audience and the UK public generally.
The former England international with 80 appearances and 48 goals to his name, hit hard at the government regarding the policy measured on asylum seekers, Mr. Lineker has also reaffirmed after his comments that he will continue to be the voice for the “voiceless”. He called the policy an “immeasurable cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 1930s”. The comparison with the Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler showed how grave the Gary Lineker conceived the policy to be. Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer have criticized Mr. Lineker reference to Nazi Germany. Ms Braverman said that reference to Nazi used by the presenter was “lazy and unhelpful”.
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It is going to lead to divided political school of thoughts in the UK, with special reference to the asylum policy and expose Downing Street to more scrutiny over its own policies. French President Emmanuel Macron and the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met this week. Sir Keir Starmer, a senior Labour politician has aligned and supported the presenter, he expressed that government should focus on fixing asylum system and accused BBC of bowing to pressure from ministers. Lineker is the BBC’s highest paid star, having earned about 1.35m in 2021-21. BBC employees are expected to be impartially and neutral in political matters but there has been argument how this guideline will be applied to staff outside of news.
There were disarray in the BBC programmes this weekend as Gary Lineker’s colleagues at pulled out of Match Of The Day punditry and commentary in solidarity with Lineker. This is going to reach a point where parties involved have to draw a line, if they are contradicting each other or differ in opinions in issues affecting the public. It come down to question how one become a voice and talk about issues which affect them in any way. The subject matter is bigger than BBC and Lineker, it is about people whose lives are stake, and how these policy is going to be a major hit to them.
