Presenter Amol Rajan now asks Greg Dyke about Gary Lineker's responsibility to impartiality as a sports reporter.

"Basically Gary Lineker was a footballer, and a brilliant footballer," he says.

"And he has built his reputation on being a footballer. And then went into broadcasting and has done it very successfully.

"If you thought on Match of the Day tonight he had been talking about immigration policy, then I can understand the BBC’s position.

"But if he’s on talking about football that’s what he knows about, that’s what he is qualified to talk about and it doesn’t impeach, I don’t think, on the BBC’s impartiality."

Former BBC Director General Greg Dyke is speaking on the Today programme on Radio 4.

"I think what the BBC did yesterday was mistaken", he says.

"Over the years I've never gone public criticising the leadership of the BBC, because I know what a difficult job it is."

But Dyke says he thinks the precedent in the BBC is that news and current affairs employees are expected to be impartial, and not the rest.

Gary Lineker is a "much-loved football reporter and presenter, but if you start applying those rules to everybody who works for the BBC, where does it end?" he asks - mentioning Alan Sugar and David Attenborough.

Good morning and thanks for joining us as we follow the row over Gary Lineker's tweets and the BBC's reaction to them.

The BBC has told him to step back from presenting the Match of the Day programme over comments Lineker made about the government's immigration policy earlier in the week.

But now commentators Ian Wright, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Jermaine Jenas have said they will also not appear on the show in support of Lineker.

We're expecting reaction to come in thick and fast this morning, ahead of an extremely unusual programme without presenters or pundits this evening.

We're expecting to hear from former director general of the BBC Greg Dyke shortly.

Jeremy Gahagan
BBC News Live reporter

We're now pausing our coverage of today's breaking story.

You can read our report on news of Gary Lineker being told to "step back" from presenting duties in our main story here and the fact Match of the Day will air without pundits or a presenter here.

This live page was brought to you by Thomas Mackintosh, Sam Hancock, Jen Meierhans, Marita Moloney, Alys Davies and myself.

Alys Davies
BBC News Live reporter

Image source, The FA via Getty Images

We'll soon be pausing our coverage of the fallout to the news that Gary Lineker has been asked to "step back" from his presenting duties on Match of the Day. Before we do, here's a quick recap of what we have been reporting since the news broke.

• Gary Lineker has been told by the BBC to "step back" from his duties presenting football programme Match of the Day over comments he made on social media earlier this week
• In a tweet on Tuesday, the Match of the Day host compared the language used to launch the government's new asylum policy with that used in 1930s Germany
• The BBC said it considered his tweets a breach of its guidelines and that Lineker will remain off air until it gets "an agreed and clear position on his use of social media"
• Following the announcement, other Match of the Day pundits dropped out of Saturday's show in solidarity with Lineker, including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer
• Micah Richards and Alex Scott also took to social media to confirm they won't be involved in the broadcast on Saturday

• The BBC then released a statement stating that no pundits or presenters will feature on Saturday's programme
• BBC Sport understands a number of players from various clubs have contacted the Professional Footballers Association to say they may want to show solidarity with Lineker and Match of the Day pundits over the impartiality row

BBC Sport understands a number of players from various clubs have contacted the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) tonight saying they may want to show solidarity with Gary Lineker and Match of the Day pundits over the BBC impartiality row by boycotting the programme's post-match interviews tomorrow.

The PFA - which has been in talks with players and clubs on the matter - are believed to be supportive of any players who choose to do so.

TV and radio presenter Richard Bacon, who has presented BBC programmes such as Blue Peter and BBC Radio 5Live, says the BBC's decision to stand Gary Lineker down from presenting the Match of the Day programme tomorrow has blown the issue up.

"Why did the BBC make the story bigger?" Bacon asks on Twitter.

"It would have faded away in the rapidly moving news agenda. They’ve thrown a canister of petrol onto some embers that would’ve burnt out ."

Piers Morgan has posted a number of tweets on the subject of the BBC pulling Gary Lineker from presenting Match of the Day tomorrow.

He described the BBC's decision as "pathetically spineless".

He wrote: "I now demand the BBC suspend every presenter who has made publiccomment about news or current affairs - starting with Sir David Attenborough andLord Sugar."

A later tweet says: "It’s now a sackable offence in Britain to express an opinion. What a pathetic state of affairs. #lineker"

Just to be clear, there has been no mention of sacking, with the BBC saying it has decided that Lineker "will step back from presenting Match of the Day until we’ve got an agreed and clear position on his use of social media".

Former Conservative cabinet minister David Gauke is of the belief that politics should not feature on things like Match of the Day.

"There is an admirable Conservative belief in quiet government & that politics should not intrude into every nook & cranny of national life. Like who presents #MotD", says Gauke.

"Let sports presenters present sport without overly bothering about their political beliefs," he writes in a tweet, external.

Thomas Mackintosh
Live reporter

Let's take a moment to have a look at the government policy announcement which Gary Lineker reacted to earlier this week.

On Tuesday Rishi Sunak unveiled plans which have been widely criticised by human rights group.

Under the new proposed legislation anyone found to have entered the country illegally would not only be removed from the UK within 28 days, but also be blocked from returning or claiming British citizenship in future.

Those arriving on UK beaches would either be returned to their home country, or another "safe third country" like Rwanda.

Supporters say the PM is "getting a grip" on illegal migration, but as I just mentioned, it is a policy which has attracted strong opinions - and not just from Lineker.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews raised "significant concerns" at the potential newly proposed migration legislation.

While, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) echoed "profound concerns" over the proposed asylum bill saying in its current form it “compels the home secretary to deny access to the UK asylum system to those who arrive irregularly”.

Image source, Getty Images

The Times' chief football writer, Henry Winter, hints that the backlash against the BBC could intensify over its actions concerning Gary Lineker.

Winter says, external many Premier League football players are "keen to show support for ex-pro pundits who step aside" from Match of the Day.

He says the Professional Footballers' Association will also fully support players who might face fines for not completing required broadcasts, should they choose not to.

Here's the BBC's statement regarding tomorrow's Match of the Day programme in full.

These are the games that will feature in tomorrow's unique episode of Match of the Day.

The BBC have said it will "focus on match action, without studio presentation."

• Bournemouth v Liverpool
• Everton v Brentford
• Leeds United v Brighton
• Leicester City v Chelsea
• Tottenham Hotspur v Nottingham Forest
• Crystal Palace v Manchester City

Roger Bolton, former BBC executive and presenter of Radio 4's Feedback programme, says the situation regarding Gary Lineker's position on Match of the Day is "a total mess", but the BBC was right in its decision to stand Lineker down.

Speaking on the BBC News Channel, Bolton says: "It's a total mess but I think in the end the BBC is right. Impartiality is desperately important, the impression of impartiality is desperately important, and if you do have a presenter talking not at great length, but on Twitter, about a matter of real controversy where the country's divided, then it does matter."

He says he thinks the BBC "should have resolved the matter much earlier by ensuring that [Lineker's] contract said he shouldn't tweet about such things... but in the end the BBC has taken, in my view, the right decision."

Asked whether Lineker should be held to the same impartiality standards as BBC employees like news presenters, Bolton responds by saying that Lineker is the most highly-paid presenter on the BBC, "and for many people he is the face of the BBC, and I think he has to acknowledge that."

"He also has the responsibility not to bring the BBC into disrepute or get it involved in controversy," he adds.

No presenters or pundits will feature on Saturday's Match of the Day programme, a BBC spokesperson says.

Saturday's Match of the Day programme will "focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry", they say.

Former BBC correspondent Jon Sopel has commented on the debate surrounding who could present Match of the Day instead of Gary Lineker.

"Surely the BBC wouldn’t have struck @GaryLineker, external from the schedules without a plan of what they were going to do, and who would present #MOTD, external. That would be plain careless," he writes on Twitter.

Despite criticism from politicians, some in the media and colleagues, Gary Lineker has steadfastly defended his right to speak out on issues that matter to him, often to his 8.7 million Twitter followers.

A tweet aimed at Jonathan Agnew, a BBC cricket host who had criticised his 2018 political posts, summed up his approach. "I'll continue to tweet what I like and if folk disagree with me then so be it," he wrote.

This week Lineker caused a row with a tweet commenting that the government's new Illegal Migration Bill was an "immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s".

Responding to critics of his comments, he said he would "continue to try and speak up for those poor souls that have no voice".

Lineker has taken refugees into his home and has spoken passionately about the need to protect people who come to the country in need.

Read more here.

Image source, AFP

Before taking to the airwaves, Gary Lineker first made his name with his local team, Leicester City FC, in 1978.

His goalscoring habit continued after moves to Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, and he topped the scoring charts for both teams in the First Division - the top flight of English football before the Premier League was created.

He made his England debut in 1984 and played 80 times for his country - the last time in 1992.

Claiming the golden boot at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico with six goals, his total tally of 48 international goals has been bettered by only three Englishmen.

He retired from the game in 1994 - having notably never been shown a yellow card - and was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

Read more here.

We've been hearing from the writer and satirist Armando Iannucci, who's been defending Gary Lineker's right to tweet opinions.

He says "public faces on the BBC shouldn't be expected to toe the government and state line", adding "that's just part of what an independent broadcaster is".

Speaking to Evan Davis on Radio 4's PM programme earlier, he adds:"The offending tweet was actually factually correct in that he didn't compare the government to the Nazis, he said the language being used about immigration is not dissimilar to the language used in Germany in the 1930s, which is absolutely correct."

Iannucci also says there are other examples of presenters showing opinions while working for the BBC.

"For example, Andrew Neil is an amazing presenter, but we know what his views are and he's stated them on Twitter. If we assume someone is professional and can do their job, then what they say privately on media away from the BBC, it shouldn't be a concern," he says.

"People are confusing impartiality with 'im-curiosity' and I think it's the duty of the BBC to be curious about what's being said."

Nomia Iqbal
North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

I approached the BBC's director-general Tim Davie earlier to ask why Gary Lineker hadn't been sacked if he breached guidelines with his tweet.

"Well I think we always look to take proportionate action - and that's what we've done," he responded

I asked him if he’d just kicked the issue further down the line and delayed the inevitable. “I think we’ve had very constructive discussions," he told me.

I pointed out to him this was now a crisis given Ian Wright and Alan Shearer have pulled out of Match of the Day, but he said “he absolutely respects people's right to make that decision".

"Would you expect the programme to go ahead tomorrow?" I asked, to which Davie replied: "BBC Sport have to look at the programme they're going to produce for the weekend as normal.”

I pointed out, there is a backlash and you will be accused of double standards by some, given the controversy over the BBC Chairman Richard Sharp.

Davie responded: "As editor in chief of the BBC I think one of our founding principles is impartiality and that’s what we are delivering on."