Gary Lineker broke BBC impartiality rule with Tory ‘Russian donors’ tweet

Host asked whether Liz Truss’s party will ‘hand back their donations from Russian donors’

BBC presenter Gary Lineker has been found to have breached the broadcaster’s impartiality rules over comments he made about the Conservatives having “Russian donors”.

The corporation announced that it has upheld a complaint made about the Match of The Day presenter’s tweet from February this year.

Mr Lineker shared an article about Liz Truss, then foreign secretary, urging Premier League teams to boycott the Champions League final in Russia, with the comment: “And her party will hand back their donations from Russian donors?”

The BBC said it received a complaint about whether the comment was consistent with its impartiality rules, which it said as “one of the BBC’s highest profile stars” Mr Lineker is expected to follow.

It said the former England star pointed out that his tweet was prompted by an article on football, and it was intended as a comment on the sport, rather than on politics.

But the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) judged that one of the purposes of Mr Lineker’s tweet was “to highlight a perceived inconsistency” in the Tory approach “at a time when relations between the UK and Russia were the subject of significant public debate”.

“For this reason, we found the tweet was in breach of the relevant guidance and did not meet the BBC’s editorial standards on impartiality,” it said.

The broadcaster said the finding has been reported to the BBC Sport management and discussed with Mr Lineker – but is not clear whether there will be any consequences other than a public reprimand.

Mr Lineker is one of the BBC’s highest earners and has 8.6 million followers on Twitter. His tweets on political topics – including Brexit – have provoked attacks from the right-wing press and some Tory MPs.

Director-general Tim Davie said last month he had spoken to the Match of the Day presenter about his tweets, telling MPs that Mr Lineker’s approach to impartiality rules was a “work in progress”.

“I’ve talked to Gary. He has sent thousands of tweets, and overall the behaviour – in terms of where he is – is in a lot better state. That conversation goes on,” Mr Davie told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee.

The director-general also described the Joe Lycett’s comments about Ms Truss on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as “slightly bemusing”, adding: “He may not be the next booking we make.”

Appearing at the same committee, BBC chairman Richard Sharp denied former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis’s claim that board member Sir Robbie Gibb was “an active agent of the Conservative Party”.