Emily Maitlis has slammed the BBC for jeopardising its own rules about impartiality after pulling Gary Lineker from hosting Match of the Day.
The 52-year-old presenter worked for the Beeb from 2001 until last year and she has already backed 62-year-old Gary amid a bitter fall over views he expressed relating to the Governments planned changes to laws relating to illegal immigration.
Gary had blasted the UK government’s plans via Twitter and compared them to “Germany in the 30s” which sparked an angry response from the government and some critics who took offence with the star comparing the UK to Nazi Germany.
While the BBC initially vowed to give Gary a stern talking to, things appeared to escalate behind closed doors as he was then, on Friday, removed from the line-up of Match of the Day presenters for this Saturday’s show.
Emily, who co-hosts a podcast called The News Agents alongside Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall, gave both barrels during a discussion on the show earlier this week.
She said: “[Is] Gary Lineker who is a football commentator, is the lead presenter [on] Match of the Day, allowed to voice his opinion?
“It seems in some cases, he is. When he was leading the World Cup coverage in Qatar he opened the coverage with thoughts and questions about Qatari human rights abuses.
“And he did so with the BBC’s blessing and, you’ll remember, they didn’t even cover the opening ceremony [but] they allowed that platform to Gary Lineker who had worked with the BBC in order to do that and deliver something to the public they thought was valuable.”
She then posed: “So it’s fine in Qatar, but if he questions anything about this country and this government then he has crossed a line?”
Co-star Jon added his opinion - and referenced a recent revelation that the BBC’s chairperson Richard Sharp had donated £800k to the Tory party - saying: “The BBC has said, publicly, that it is going to talk sternly to Gary Lineker about what he said.
“Imagine the conversation if Gary Lineker went in to see the chairman, Richard Sharp, and the chairman, Richard Sharp, says to him ‘Gary, you should not have done that and you need to apologise to the government’ and Gary Lineker turns around and says ‘I didn’t facilitate an £800,000 loan for the Prime Minister while we are on the subject of impartiality’.”
And Lewis added: “This is exactly the problem, John. Because this is where it is summed up perfectly. Which is that what the Conservatives have managed to do is convince the BBC the wider people … that impartiality only goes in one direction.”
Emily had previously defended Gary via Twitter, writing: “Curious that @GaryLineker was free to raise questions about Qatar ’s human rights record - with the blessing of the bbc - over the World Cup , but cannot raise questions of human rights in this country if it involves criticism of government policy …"
There has been furore around Gary's opinion as BBC employees are expected to remain impartial while working for the corporation.
Match of the Day is due to go ahead today - but without any hosts or pundits, leaving many to question how the show will work at all.
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