Gary Lineker believed he had a ‘special agreement’ with BBC director general Tim Davie to tweet about migrants and immigration, his agent claims

• Ex-England footballer, 62, sparked mutinous chaos at the corporation last week
• But Jon Holmes says Lineker believed he had permission to tweet about issue

Gary Lineker believed he had an ‘special agreement’ with BBC director general Tim Davie to tweet about migrants and immigration, his agent has claimed.

The ex-England footballer, 62, sparked mutinous chaos at the corporation last week when he was asked to step back from presenting Match of the Day after backlash over a tweet comparing the Government’s migrant crackdown to Nazi Germany.

But Jon Holmes, who has worked with Lineker for more than 40 years, said Lineker had a ‘passionate interest’ in the subject and believed he had permission to tweet about the issue.

He also revealed how he was called into Broadcasting House, the BBC’s headquarters in central London, on Friday as part of efforts to resolve the situation.

Mr Holmes, also the former chairman of Leicester City, told New Statesman: ‘Gary takes a passionate interest in refugees and, as he saw it, had a special agreement with Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, to tweet about these issues.’

Jon Holmes, who has worked with Lineker for more than 40 years, pictured arriving at The King Power Stadium to watch Leicester and Chelsea on Saturday

Lineker sparked mutinous chaos at the corporation last week when he was asked to step back from presenting Match of the Day

He added: ‘But when they asked me how the matter could be resolved, I told them taking Gary off the air would not be helpful and we needed to clarify the guidelines.’

The agent said he resisted saying ‘I told you so’ after the BBC’s football coverage was hit by fellow presenters and pundits walking out in solidarity with Lineker.

READ MORE: BBC journalist John Simpson says Gary Lineker is ‘a bit to blame for mess’

Mr Holmes continued: ‘In my view, the BBC did not have to put itself in that position and publish its statement. 

‘It’s best not to feed the beast. You starve it – that’s how you achieve a quick resolution to problems like these.’

Lineker will return to TV screens to present live coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley on Saturday.

Mr Davie said he had taken ‘proportionate action’ over the controversial tweet and insisted he had not backed down in the row, but he has been accused of ‘capitulating’ to the former footballer.

It is understood Mr Davie and the chief content officer Charlotte Moore headed up to BBC Sport’s Media City offices in Salford, Manchester, on Tuesday to address the controversy with staff directly.

But with teams gathered both in person and over video link, staff are said to have not been on side with Lineker.

An insider told The Telegraph numerous people spoke out against Lineker in the meeting.

They said: ‘There was a sliding scale of anger among the rank and file between BBC management and Lineker. Someone even said that multi-millionaire presenters are now drawing the picket lines and expecting everyone else to join in.

‘One person pointed out that Gary had breached the social media guidelines before and been reprimanded for it, so what did he expect this time.

‘There was a lot of anger directed at the management for the way they have dealt with the crisis. But there was also anger directed at Lineker, not for his political view but because of how it has affected people’s jobs.’

Unfazed by the events of the past week, though, Lineker changed the picture on his Twitter profile to a photoshopped image of himself in front of a George Orwell quotation about freedom of speech earlier this week.

Mr Davie said he had taken ‘proportionate action’ over the controversial tweet and insisted he had not backed down in the row

Lineker will return to TV screens to present live coverage of the FA Cup quarter-final between Manchester City and Burnley on Saturday

It comes as the BBC has continued to suffer high-profile attacks from those on both sides of the debate. 

Ian Wright, who boycotted last Saturday’s MOTD in ‘solidarity with Lineker’, said the corporation had made a ‘hot mess from high up’ and that ‘surely heads have got to roll’.

But former BBC chief political correspondent John Sergeant said the corporation could not back down on ‘the commitment to political impartiality’ and that if ‘key freelance presenters’ cannot ‘stick to the rules, their contracts should end’.

Veteran BBC journalist John Simpson also accused Lineker of helping to create the mess that the corporation has found itself in.

The 78-year-old war correspondent said he ‘must have known’ that talking about the Government’s immigration policy was going to be ‘tricky’.

Senior figures at the BBC are said to fear the climbdown will lead to a ‘free for all’ of presenters and reporters testing impartiality rules by expressing their political opinions online while a review into the Corporation’s social media guidelines is conducted.

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