The BBC has announced new impartiality rules for its top stars, following the long drawn-out review by John Hardie after Gary Lineker’s Tory-bashing tweets earlier this year. It will surprise absolutely no one that they’ve backed down, and will now allow non-news presenters to be as partisan as they like, so long as they “stop short of political campaigning”. It is not clear how they’ll decide what ‘political campaigning’ looks like. Presumably whatever Gary Lineker says won’t count…

Hardie said:

“High-profile presenters outside of journalism should be able to express views on issues and policies – including matters of political contention – but stop well short of campaigning in party politics or for activist organisations.”

Tim Davie added:

“We all have a responsibility to treat people with civility and respect, particularly at a time when public debate and discussion, both on and offline, can be so polarised. The BBC also has important commitments to both freedom of expression and impartiality – and this rightly extends to social media.”

Lineker is obviously onboard, saying the new rules are “all very sensible“. He will push those rules to the absolute limits…