The BBC’s capitulation to Gary Lineker, who recently revealed Tim Davie gave him express permission to tweet about refugees and the climate, seems to have emboldened other presenters at the corporation to tweet to their hearts content. Gary’s defence in the impartiality row (and for tax purposes) relies on the fact that as a self-contracted sports presenter – not employed by the BBC and away from news content – he should be less constrained by impartiality guidelines. It seems as though another presenter wants to make the most of Lineker’s loophole…

Now, there’s another name to add to the list of partisan presenters.  Just a quick look at the Twitter feed of Roland Pease, the self-contracted host of BBC Science in Action, is enough to reveal flagrant breaches of neutrality. Guido notes that Roland’s Twitter bio includes reference to his BBC employment – a factor relevant to determining impartiality breaches…

• Roland compared Nigel Farage to Joseph Stalin.
• Unearthed 1930s immigration rhetoric to compare to the present day, during the Gary Lineker controversy.
• Questioned Ofcom over Nigel Farage’s show and criticised his “nonsense”.
• Likened “King Boris” to an orangutan.
• Applauded Ben and Jerry’s “principled” criticism of Priti Patel – which ended with the statement “PEOPLE CANNOT BE ILLEGAL”.
• Joked about Boris Johnson’s sexual interests.
• Shared criticism of Brexit and Implied Brexit supporters couldn’t pass a history test.
• Made a searing criticism of the “lily-livered” BBC’s “shameful” cancellation of Gary Lineker.
• Mocked Thérèse Coffey’s turnip comments.
• Retweeted LedByDonkeys’ anti-Tory investigation.

Gary and Roland are two Pease in a pod…

As a science presenter and a freelancer, he may well hope to be equal to Gary in his immunity from impartiality obligations. Impartiality does seem more relevant to science than sport. In case he wanted to try his luck with BBC executives, Guido would just gently remind Roland that he doesn’t quite have Lineker’s star power…