BBC sport coverage in disarray over Gary Lineker free speech row

BBC sport presenter Gary Lineker was suspended after criticising the British government’s new asylum policy. The BBC’s sport service was plunged into chaos on Saturday as commentators refused to work in support of presenter Gary Lineker, who was suspended after he criticised the government’s new migration policy. If we don’t cherish & fiercely protect free speech, even for views we personally despise, we’re no better than totalitarian regimes like China & North Korea,” said TV host Piers Morgan. Lineker, the BBC’s highest-paid star, wrote on Twitter, “This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the ’30s.” The Conservative government intends to outlaw asylum claims by all irregular arrivals and transfer them to other countries, such as Rwanda, in a bid to stop the crossings, which totalled more than 45,000 last year.