Gary Lineker and David Attenborough have more in common than you think

As he gets ready for some weekend television, Will Gore reflects on the controversies surrounding two of the BBC’s best known presenters

Lineker has been unflinching in his criticism of the new immigration bill (PA)

It’s been quite a week for national treasures. Gary Lineker has been at the centre of attention, following his criticism of the government’s policy to curb asylum seekers crossing the Channel. Ministers were especially upset at Lineker’s tweeted suggestion that the language in which their plans are couched resembles the kind of terminology found in 1930s Germany. The presenter has “stepped back” from presenting Match of the Day until he can come to an agreement with the BBC on his use of social media.

A “flippant analogy”, Suella Braverman angrily called Lineker’s tweet, shortly before Penny Mordaunt got up in the Commons to decry Labour for copying the Lineker playbook and being a bunch of goalhangers and left-wing strikers. If only “flippant” was the worst that could be said about that tortuous comparison.

Of course, it’s Lineker’s role as a presenter for the licence fee-funded BBC that causes politicians to get hot under the collar – even though he’s a freelancer with no role in presenting news. I do sometimes wonder, however, whether ministers appreciate quite how oddly it plays when they are seen to get quite so angry about a guy who was brilliant at football, very good at eating crisps and is widely admired as a sports broadcaster.