Gary Lineker has defended his 'factual' tweet criticising the government's asylum policy on small boats - but the Match of the Day host wished he did not post it because of the 'furore' that followed.
Lineker was suspended by the BBC last March after calling Home Secretary Suella Braverman's presentation of her 'stop the boats' bill 'beyond awful' on Twitter. The former England captain, who has worked with refugees' charities for years, added that some of the language was 'not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the '30s'.
The BBC felt this was a breach of its impartiality guidelines and instructed Lineker to 'step back' from presenting Match of the Day until there was an 'agreed and clear position on his use of social media'. The move sparked a mass walkout by staff - Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer's decision to boycott the programme left a 'very emotional' Lineker in tears - and led to a stripped down version of the programme being broadcast without any analysis or commentary.
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Lineker was reinstated just a couple of days later but, having had to contend with the press camped outside his home for close to a week, the episode clearly left its mark on the 62-year-old.
"I wasn't angered but I did a riposte that I wish I had not done - only because of the furore that followed," he told Unfiltered with Oli Dugmore. "I don't take a word back that I said. I think I was factually correct, which is why I stood my ground. I don't think it was necessarily an opinion thing. I think it was factual. It was a surreal few days. I kept thinking, 'This is really about not very much at all.'"
