Gary Lineker stands by ‘factually accurate’ tweet on government asylum seeker policy | UK News

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has stood by his tweet in regards to the authorities’s “merciless” asylum coverage which resulted in him being taken off air by the BBC.

The previous England footballer was requested to “step again” from the favored highlights present over his feedback evaluating the language used to launch a brand new government asylum seeker policy to that of 1930s Germany.

He later returned to the presenting function after the row prompted a boycott by his fellow soccer pundits and commentators, hitting TV and radio protection throughout the BBC.

However he informed Alastair Campbell throughout an interview for Males’s Well being UK journal that he stood by his feedback.

As a part of the publication’s Speaking Heads interview collection, he mentioned: “Once I despatched that tweet, it actually by no means even crossed my thoughts that it might result in the place it went.

“I’ve labored with refugees’ charities for years.

“So, once I noticed the Suella Braverman movie, I mentioned I believed it was fairly terrible.

“Then the ‘persist with soccer’ individuals weighed in and I replied to one among them, simply saying there was no huge inflow, the UK takes far fewer refugees than different European international locations, this can be a merciless coverage, and the language used within the debate reminds us of the controversy in Germany within the Nineteen Thirties.

“I believe that’s factually correct.”

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The 62-year-old host added that he agreed he wouldn’t cease “sometimes” tweeting about two points – local weather change and refugees – when new social media steering was launched by director-general Tim Davie in October 2020.

He added: “I wasn’t ready to again down on that, particularly as I felt and nonetheless really feel that what I tweeted was honest and true.

“I wasn’t abusive, I wasn’t saying she [Braverman] was a Nazi.

“I talked about the usage of phrases like ‘invasion’ and ‘swarms’ and ‘criminals’ and ‘rapists’, which I believe we ought to be very cautious about as a result of it has real-life penalties.”

Lineker additionally revealed that after he had been taken off air by the BBC, he discovered it “arduous to see the way it acquired resolved except they backed down”.

“And I believe the important thing second was when the opposite presenters after which the commentators made it clear they would not go on if I used to be taken off air,” he mentioned.

Commenting on the broadcaster’s director-general, he mentioned: “To be honest to Tim Davie, he admitted that they had acquired it flawed and sorted it out.

“I really like the BBC and I used to be very glad to be again on air and speaking about soccer once more.”