Lineker pushes boundaries to limit - ex BBC chair

Gary Lineker was been pulled from BBC football highlights show Match of the Day after his social media posts criticised the government's new asylum policy

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker pushed boundaries to the limit, the woman who chaired the BBC when he was suspended after his social media use says.

Dame Elan Closs Stephens held the role at the corporation between June 2023 and March 2024, when former footballer Lineker came under fire for his comments on social media.

Lineker had publicly criticised the Conservative government's language when discussing refugees.

Dame Elan, who has been on the BBC board since 2017 and a member of its trust for seven years before that, said: "Lineker's courage and folly is that he pushes those boundaries to the extreme."

Dame Elan spoke to BBC Radio Cymru about controversial situations she handled during her time as chairwoman

Lineker was allowed to return to his job following an internal investigation but declined to respond to Dame Elan's comments when contacted by the BBC's Cymru Fyw.

New rules were published for BBC flagship presenters following the row over the former England captain's comments which saw the BBC's sport coverage disrupted as Lineker's colleagues refused to work to protest his suspension.

In an interview with BBC Radio Cymru, Dame Elan said: "Every time I went to see the secretary of state, Gary Lineker was the first thing mentioned.

"And I have to say he [Lineker] is provocative too - he pops up every now and then - and he doesn't make life easy.

"And he pushes the boundaries. I mean, we had a guidebook on what you could say on social media."

She added that a lot of Lineker's controversial usage of social media involved retweeting on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"But of course that infuriated a lot of people who wanted to see him sacked," she said.

Dame Elan also spoke about stories which appeared in the press about news presenter Huw Edwards during her time in charge.

The BBC recently apologised for the way it handled complaints about his behaviour.

The Sun newspaper reported that the presenter, who at that point was unnamed, was alleged to have paid a young person for sexually explicit photos.

"It was a sad story," Dame Elan said.

Edwards resigned from the BBC on medical advice after the story, and his identity, came to light.

"The first thing of course was to make sure Huw was OK and that his family were being looked after and safe, but I can't say more than that," she said.

You can hear the interview in full on Beti a'i Phobl, BBC Radio Cymru at 18:00 BST on Sunday.