Economy Minister Jeremy Hunt admits, when interviewed on Sky News, that “it’s not up to him” to decide whether the former footballer violated the station’s rules of impartiality
The British Conservative Government has reiterated this Sunday that it corresponds to the BBC resolve the crisis with former soccer player Gary Linekerwho has been removed as a presenter of the public channel after criticizing the Executive’s immigration plan on Twitter.
Economy Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Saturday when interviewed on Sky News that “It’s not up to him” to decide whether Lineker violated fairness standards of the station -which are somewhat different for news personnel and other spaces-, along the same lines as what the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, declared last night. In a statement, Sunak said he understood that “not everyone will agree” with his controversial plan to deny asylum to migrants who arrive illegally in the UK in small boats and said that “it is a matter” of the public channel and its presenter. star how they resolve their dispute.
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Labor spokeswoman for the Economy, Rachel Reeves, for her part told Sky News this Saturday that Lineker’s temporary suspension “is a disproportionate measure”, and accused Conservative MPs and ministers of “having pressured” the BBC to force it to remove him. The suspension of the former Barcelona player from his Match of the Day soccer program, which he has presented since 1999, sparked a wave of solidarity among his colleagues on Saturday that has led to changes in all of the public channel’s weekend sports programming.
The director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, apologized yesterday for this upset but ruled out resigning, and hoped to be able to reach an agreement on the use of social networks that allows Lineker to return to his post, who on other occasions has ruled on controversial issues in the United Kingdom.