Gary Lineker says BBC row was ‘so disproportionate’ and ‘never thought tweet would be an issue’

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Gary Lineker has said that he is “still bewildered” after the row with BBC bosses over his remarks on social media criticising the government’s policy on asylum-seekers. I think I probably drift from centre to left a little bit of centre.” In the tweet igniting the row, Lineker had responded to a government clip of home secretary Suella Braverman setting out the government’s highly controversial plans to effectively ban most people from seeking asylum in the UK, saying: “Good heavens, this is beyond awful.” Replying to a Twitter user who said “it was “easy to pontificate when it doesn’t affect you”, Lineker added: “There is no huge influx. “Obviously we all recognise there’s a massive problem, but it’s going to get worse as well with climate change and stuff like that, people fleeing their countries, and I just thought ‘come on’.” His remark about 1930s Germany “was never meant as any kind of comparison with the Holocaust or anything like that”, Lineker said. “To get that team spirit, that camaraderie and togetherness – it just moved me,” he said, adding: “I must admit I had a tear in my eye.” Discussing the issue of impartiality – with the BBC having announced an independent review of its social media guidlines in response to the row – Lineker appeared to point to recent criticisms of the BBC, including chair Richard Sharp’s role in facilitating an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson while in No 10.