Gary Lineker row goes to heart of BBC reputation - Ofcom boss

The BBC impartiality row with Gary Lineker goes "straight to the heart" of the broadcaster's wider reputation, Ofcom's chief executive has said.

Dame Melanie Dawes told MPs it "hasn't been a great weekend" for BBC Sport fans after coverage was pulled off air.

She told a committee she hoped the BBC could move beyond this episode.

Lineker will return to Match of the Day after he was taken off air over a tweet criticising the government's new asylum policy.

BBC director general Tim Davie said an independent review of social media guidelines would be carried out and he denied accusations that the BBC had backed down.

Speaking to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, Dame Melanie said: "Clearly an episode like this goes straight to the heart of that wider reputation beyond their news and current affairs coverage."

She told MPs it was right the BBC was reviewing its social media guidelines, adding: "There is ambiguity in there, I think that was probably designed to give a degree of flexibility… but it didn't achieve what they wanted."

She said there needed to be "very strict rules" for news presenters, but said it was a "slightly different question" when it comes to other contributors, including freelancers and actors.

"I think they need to be weighing freedom of expression alongside the wider reputation they have for impartiality," she said.

"It is for the BBC board to safeguard the reputation of the BBC, including for impartiality, and to weigh all that in the balance."

She added that she didn't think it would be "straightforward" and that Ofcom, which is the BBC's regulator, has no role in setting internal guidelines but can offer advice.

The row began last week when, in a tweet, Lineker said the government's new Illegal Migration Bill was an "immeasurably cruel policy" and said the language used around it was "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".

His words were criticised by Conservative ministers, including the home secretary.

Lineker was told on Friday to step back from presenting Match of the Day until an agreement was reached, triggering an unprecedented wave of walkouts from fellow pundits and commentators in solidarity.

On Monday it was announced Lineker will return to present Match of the Day. The BBC said it would carry out an independent review of its social media guidelines - and in the meantime Lineker would abide by the current guidelines.

The BBC faced criticism from a range of sides over the row, with some Tory MPs questioning whether the licence fee model should come to an end.

But senior Conservative Michael Gove defended the BBC and said he was a "big fan" of the licence fee.

"I wish the BBC well, I respect its independence," he added.

Asking an urgent question on the row in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Labour's shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said the events of the past week "exposed how susceptible the BBC leadership is to government pressure".

"This week's sorry saga has raised serious questions about the government's role in upholding BBC impartiality," she said. "They've got their fingerprints all over it."

She added that Lineker being taken off air for tweeting something "the government doesn't like" sounds like "Putin's Russia" - a comparison culture minister Julia Lopez described as "disgraceful".

Ms Lopez told the Commons the government had "consistently made clear" the matter was for the BBC to resolve internally, adding that at "no time have ministers sought to influence BBC decisions".

In the wake of the row, Lineker contacted Twitter owner Elon Musk after a threatening message was sent to his eldest son, George, who had tweeted in support of his father.

The Match of the Day presenter has also changed his Twitter profile image, now showing Lineker next to a quote from George Orwell which is engraved on the wall of the BBC's New Broadcasting House.