Gary Lineker broke BBC impartiality rule with conservative 'Russian donors' tweet

BBC presenter Gary Lineker was found guilty of breaching the broadcaster's impartiality rules over comments he made about curators having "Russian donors".

The company announced it had upheld a complaint filed regarding the presenter's Match of The Day tweet from February this year.

Mr. Lineker shared an article about then Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urging Premier League teams to boycott the Champions League final in Russia, with the comment: "And his party will return its donations from Russian donors?"

The BBC said it had received a complaint about the commentary's compatibility with its impartiality rules, which it called "one of the BBC's hottest stars". Lineker should follow.

He said the former England star pointed out that his tweet was inspired by an article about football, and that it was intended as a commentary on sport, rather than on politics.

But the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) said one of the purposes of Mr Lineker's tweet was "to highlight a perceived inconsistency" in the conservative approach "at a time when relations between the UK and Russia were the subject of significant public debate".

"For this reason, we found that the tweet breached the guidelines material and did not meet the BBC's editorial standards for impartiality," he said.

The broadcaster said the discovery had been reported to BBC Sport management and discussed with Mr. Lineker - but it is unclear if there will be any consequences other than a public reprimand.

Mr. Lineker is one of the BBC's officials. top earners and has 8.6 million Twitter followers. His tweets on political topics - including Brexit - provoked attacks from the right-wing press and some Tory MPs.

Chief Executive Tim Davie said last month that he had spoken to the Match of the Day presenter about his tweets, telling MPs that Mr Lineker's approach to impartiality rules was a "work in progress".

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"I've spoken to Gary. He's sent out thousands of tweets and overall the behavior - in terms of where he is - is in much better shape. This conversation is continues,” Mr Davie told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

The chief executive also described Joe Lycett’s comments about Ms Truss on BBC One Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as "slightly disconcerting", adding, "He may not be the next booking we make."

Appearing before the same At the committee, BBC chairman Richard Sharp denied former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis' claim that board member Sir Robbie Gibb was "an active agent of the Conservative Party