BBC scolding Lineker: Asylum law compared to Nazi Germany

MP calls for former England player to resign as expert at broadcaster

The BBC scolded football presenter Gary Lineker for comparing British refugee policy to Nazi Germany. Public radio reported on Wednesday night that the former England player would be “reminded of his responsibility”. Conservative MP Craig McKinlay told The Telegraph that Lineker’s comment was “ill-conceived and disgraceful”. The BBC should fire the 62-year-old.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Lineker called the Conservative British government’s new asylum law “more than terrible”. When criticized as “out of order”, he replied: “This is an immeasurably cruel policy, directed against the weakest people, in a language that is Germany of the thirties, and I am not wholly out of my mind?”

The British government first wants to detain migrants who enter the country without official permission in shelters and then expel them to Rwanda or other countries. They should be denied the right to seek asylum. The plans could violate the European Convention on Human Rights. Home Secretary Soella Braverman had spoken of an “invasion” in light of the growing number of people entering the country across the English Channel.

The BBC is committed to unequivocal impartiality. Lineker, who has about 8.6 million followers on Twitter, has repeatedly criticized the Conservative government.