BBC presenter Gary Lineker is prone to controversy with his political tweets
Two former BBC workers ended up in a fiery debate on GB News today as they discussed Gary Lineker's political tweets.
The sports presenter has landed himself in hot water a few times for breaching impartiality guidelines and the former England striker recently revisited the row over his tweet last year about Suella Braverman's small boat policy - when he compared the language used to launch the policy to that of Nazi Germany.
Talking about his recent interview on GB News today, former BBC presenter Danny Kelly said: "I love Gary Lineker, the footballer. He played for Everton, he scored 40 goals in one season.
"I don't like Gary Lineker the political activist and Gary Lineker at the Hay Festival said how much he loves the BBC. Well, I can tell you, Lineker, the BBC, it's not reciprocal."
He added: "When I was at the BBC, plenty of people on the shop floor in the newsroom were very wary of what was coming next out of Gary's Twitter feed.
"Because Lineker is a multi-millionaire, he's doing more damage to the future of the licence fee than any potential organisation trying to defend the licence fee. I wish he'd rein it in. I wish you'd think of the 18,000 people whose jobs and livelihoods depend on the licence fee."
Jo Philips, who has worked alongside the BBC, disagreed with Kelly and said: "I'd say that's absolute cobblers.
"Frankly, I don't think it's putting the licence fee at risk at all. Don't forget, if you put this in context, Gary Lineker was talking at the Hay Festival this week and he was talking about the tweets and what led to his suspension from broadcasting a year ago.
"He wasn't tweeting today. He talked about why he goes on social media. I mean, I don't, but other people do. And I'm sure people do it for the same reasons that Gary Lineker does.
"He's entitled to his opinion. He's a sports presenter. He's not a news presenter. If you don't like what he says, that's fine. If you like what he says about football and his commentary, that's fine too. But the idea that this is putting people's jobs or the BBC at risk is absolute nonsense."
