Gary Lineker says the BBC cannot at all times be neutral and accuses bosses of being ‘influenced an excessive amount of by earlier governments’

Gary Lineker has claimed the BBC cannot always be impartial in an interview with leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski. 

The former Match of the Day host, 65, stepped away from his role on the show in May amid a row over his airing of political opinions on social media. 

While Lineker said he still sees the BBC as the most trusted news source, he claimed it is unrealistic to expect the broadcaster to never make mistakes. 

He also admitted that perhaps at the top of the corporation there is a ‘bit too much influence from previous governments’. 

Lineker was speaking on the Bold Politics With Zack Polanski podcast which will be aired from 3pm on New Year’s Eve. 

He says: ‘It’s impossible to be impartial on everything. I had lots and lots of great times at the BBC. I loved the people that work there.

‘I think at the top at the moment there’s probably a bit too much influence from previous governments etc.

‘I think they probably need to look at the way that at the top of the BBC that ultimately make the big decisions, and the influence that they have on certain things. But I still say that it’s the most trusted news source.’

Gary Lineker has claimed the BBC cannot always be impartial in an interview with leader of the Green Party Zack Polanski

Green Party leader Zack Polanksi is seen outside BBC Broadcasting House in London in November

It comes after the ex-England footballer insisted that he should not have been forced out of the BBC in an interview earlier this month. 

Speaking to The Standard, he said people ‘recognised I did nothing untoward’ and that his early exit was ‘beautiful because everyone supported me’.

Lineker departed following a social media row after he shared a post about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat, historically an antisemitic insult.

The ex-England footballer said that he simply ‘missed an emoji’ and ‘would never associate any group of people, any person, with a rodent’.

Lineker, earning £1.35million a year, issued an unreserved apology for the incident at the time and has now said he thought this ‘should have been enough – but it wasn’t’.

Asked if he paid a high price, he said: ‘I don’t think it’s cost me anything. I’ve left the BBC, but that was beautiful, because everyone supported me. 

‘I think people recognised I did nothing untoward, that I was just factually correct, but it was tough.’

Lineker was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the then-government’s new asylum policy.

He was also among 500 high-profile figures who signed an open letter in February urging the BBC to rebroadcast a documentary, Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone.

Lineker shared a post on Instagram about Zionism which featured a depiction of a rat

Lineker said that when he joined social media in 2012, the BBC’s impartiality guidelines ‘didn’t apply at all because they only applied to those in news or current affairs’.

But he said this approach changed in 2019, ‘so they just moved the goalposts and expected us just to go along with it’, adding: ‘There’s no contract, nothing written, just guidelines. So I just carried on as normal and they had to like it or lump it.

‘I didn’t ever give my political views; never, ever said who I vote for, ever, because I know where the boundaries are. But I’ve been there [at the BBC] for 30 years, so you’re going to have the odd fallout.’

Lineker added that he texted Tim Davie after he resigned as BBC director-general last month following concerns about impartiality including how a speech US President Donald Trump made in January 2021 was edited in a Panorama documentary.

The presenter said he asked Mr Davie whether he was okay, and ‘got a message straight back which was nice’, adding: ‘I always liked Tim.’

He added: ‘The only place the BBC is probably a bit partial is the board. There is massive influence and Tim Davie has paid the price.’

Speaking about the Panorama editing, Lineker said: ‘I don’t know what led them to do what they did. They didn’t even need to. 

‘I suspect it was just some kind of error. I can’t imagine anyone thinking, “If we put that there it makes him look worse.”‘

The Daily Mail has contacted the BBC for comment.