BBC chief faces grilling over Lineker claim he CAN be political

BBC bosses are to face a grilling from MPs over impartiality after Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker became involved in a public row with a high-profile journalist.

- Jonathan Walker

Tim Davie, the broadcaster’s Director General, is due to be quizzed by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee alongside senior colleagues at a hearing inside the Commons next month.

Mr Davie is set to be asked why he has apparently failed to keep a promise to stop presenters including Mr Lineker making partisan political comments. The presenter came under fire last week from BBC journalist Neil Henderson, the broadcaster’s Home and Foreign News Editor, who accused him of ignoring the BBC’s “duty of impartiality”.

The row began when Mr Lineker Tweeted: “As a politician how could you bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!”

This was a reference to false claims spread on social media that Conservative MPs voted to allow water companies to dump sewage in rivers and seas.

Mr Henderson sent him a public reply, asking: “Does not our duty of impartiality apply across the BBC?”