Gary Lineker criticised by Jonathan Agnew for 'political' Brexit tweets

BBC Sport host Gary Lineker has been criticised by his colleague Jonathan Agnew for expressing his political views on Twitter.

The former England football captain, who hosts the BBC’s flagship Match of the Day programme, has been outspoken in his political opinions, in particular his opposition to Brexit, which he regularly tweets about. Lineker also appeared at a rally in London campaigning for a second referendum in November.

On Thursday, Jonathan Agnew, who heads up the BBC’s cricket coverage, criticised his colleague for voicing his political views, saying that doing so breached BBC editorial guidelines, which require presenters to be impartial.

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“Gary. You are the face of BBC Sport. Please observe BBC editorial guidelines and keep your political views, whatever they are and whatever the subject, to yourself. I’d be sacked if I followed your example. Thanks,” Agnew wrote on Twitter.

The tweet seemed to be in response to a series of tweets written by Lineker on Wednesday, as the Conservatives held a no-confidence vote in Theresa May.

“Extraordinary to watch us take our country back and rip it to shreds in the process,” he wrote in one tweet. Another was a retweet of David Cameron’s calls for the Conservative party to back the prime minister, which Lineker shared with crying-with-laughter emojis.

But Lineker also served up some criticism for the Labour party, writing: “Imagine how hopeless you’d have to be to still be behind the Tory party in the polls. The absolute state of our politics.”

Lineker replied to Agnew’s criticism saying: “I’ll continue to tweet what I like and if folk disagree with me then so be it.” He added that he imagined Agnew would not be concerned about Lineker making his political views known “if you agreed with me”.

Agnew responded by posting a thumbs up emoji, with some on Twitter commending them for the civility of their interaction.

While some on Twitter supported Agnew, with one writing “Get in, Aggers” and another “Thank you Aggers”, Agnew said that he had received far more responses opposing his views than supporting them. He tweeted: “Ok. View is overwhelmingly going Gary! You can stop the aggro now.”

After many people, including a Labour MP, said that Agnew’s tweet confirmed he was a Brexiteer, Agnew tweeted he had voted Remain.

One person replied to Agnew: “You’re just plain wrong on this… Can you show us what contract you signed which said you can’t express political views that don’t related to your broadcast responsibilities?” To which Agnew replied with a link to the BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality.

The BBC’s editorial guidelines state that: “Impartiality lies at the heart of public service and is the core of the BBC’s commitment to its audiences.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “Gary is not involved in any news or political output for the BBC and as such any expression of his personal political views does not affect the BBC’s impartiality.”

Lineker was not the only sports star to come under fire for expressing his political views on social media this week. Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan tweeted on Wednesday, as Conservatives were preparing to vote on May’s leadership: “Give me a Donald Trump style leader over any of our leaders any day of the week”.

The tweet did not go down well with many of his followers, some of whom suggested he must have been drunk or his account had been hacked. He later removed the post and followed up with a tweet, saying: “Note to self… Don’t ever mention DT on Twitter again in any way, shape or form.”