OPINION - Lineker has played into Tory hands: for them, a row on migrants is good

Gary Lineker has had quite the week. Let’s deal first with the claims that the much-loved commentator should be sacked because, as his critics say, he has broken BBC impartiality rules and angered licence-fee payers because he expressed his views on political matters. Arguments in his defence are clear to me — it’s his Twitter account, he does not report on politics for the Beeb, and he is also a freelancer, not staff. He has stretched BBC guidance but I’m sure the public can, like me, exercise a brain cell or two and work out that his opinions are not those of the BBC. As it stands, it looks like the BBC agrees with me.