Guido doesn’t quite understand the messaging with this slogan-on-the-side-of-a-Volkswagen-camper-van protest outside the BBC today. It was moved on by the police, “you can’t park that here”…

UPDATE:  Daniel Confino gets in touch to tell Guido that in his view, with his recent Hamas sympathetic tweets, Lineker is prostituting himself to further his financial interests in the Middle East. Hence the BBC is his pimp. Clear?

The BBC’s new chairman said before Christmas that Gary Lineker’s ranting tweets were in breach of BBC guidelines – Guido wonders what he’ll make of more recent activity. Lineker retweeted a post from the “Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel” calling for all global sporting authorities to ban Israeli participation. The Campaign Against Antisemitism said Lineker “has a lot to say about a lot of things, but anti-Semitism does not appear to be one of them”…

At least the retweet has landed well somewhere. The Hamas-run Quds News Network, which has been suspended on almost all social media platforms for its militant propaganda, has celebrated the move from “renowned English sports broadcaster and former footballer”. Judge a man by his friends…

The BBC’s new chairman has just said Gary Lineker’s Twitter diatribe is in breach of BBC rules. Samir Shah, who the government picked as the new chairman last week, is at his pre-appointment hearing with the DCMS committee this morning. When asked about Lineker’s conduct Shah said that his recent tweet suggesting Jonathan Gullis can’t read breaks the BBC’s social media guidelines on impartiality. Maybe Gary needs to take some classes…

The rule in question can be found in Section 4B, Point 2 of the BBC’s social media rules: “Don’t criticise the character of individual politicians in the UK“. Shah told the committee “I would imagine that the BBC is now looking into that and considering its response“. Another weak slap on the wrist on the way for Gary…

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…

The BBC has just revealed further details of the story everyone is talking about – BBC presenter salaries. It’s been a good year for Huw Edwards, who’s clocked in a bumper £25,000 pay rise. That should cover any unexpected costs…

As record wage growth contributes to inflationary pressures, the BBC has been doing their best to make the situation worse. Gary Lineker remains the corporation’s highest earner, on £1,354,999, as Victoria Derbyshire, Laura Kuenssberg and Amol Rajan also do alright for themselves. Here are the highest-earning politicos, and others:

Today

• Amol Rajan – £339,999 (+3%)
• Mishal Husain – £319,999 (+14%)
• Justin Webb – £284,999 (+10%)
• Nick Robinson – £279,999 (+2%)
• Martha Kearney – £264,999 (+2%)

World at One

• Sarah Montague – £249,999 (NC)

PM

• Evan Davis – £284,999 (+4%)

BBC News at Six and Ten

• Huw Edwards – £439,999 (+6%)
• Sophie Rayworth – £369,999  (+19%)
• Gerge Alagiah – £339,999 (+3%)
• Clive Myrie – £289,999 (+12%)
• Reeta Chakrabarti – £219,999 (+7%)

Question Time

• Fiona Bruce – £399,999 (-4%)

Newsnight

• Victoria Derbyshire – £299,999 (+22%)
• Kirsty Wark – £284,999 (+14%)

BBC Breakfast

• Charlie Stayt – £194,999 (NC)
• Jon Kay – £189,999 (NEW)
• Sally Nugent – £184,999 (NEW)

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

• Laura Kuenssberg – £309,999 (+17%)

On-air editors and correspondents

• Faisal Islam – £234,999 (-4%)
• Jeremy Bowen – £234,999 (NC)
• Katya Adler – £219,999 (+5%)
• Chris Mason – £229,999 (NEW)
• Sarah Smith – £224,999 (+15%)
• Lyse Doucet – £209,999 (+35%)
• Mark Easton – £199,999 (+3%)
• John Simpson – £184,999 (NEW)

Non-politics or news

• Gary Lineker – £1,354,999 (NC)
• Zoe Ball – £984,999 (NC)
• Alan Shearer – £449,999 (-0.1%)
• Stephen Nolan – £404,999 (-4%)
• Greg James – £399,999 (+1%)
• Jeremy Vine – £289,999 (-2%)
• Louis Theroux – £204,999 (NC)

Co-conspirators can read the full report here. Thank God for BBC transparency…

Sports fans among Guido’s co-conspirators will recall one of the biggest examples of leftie pearl-clutching in recent times: the commentariat’s outrage at the 2021 Saudi takeover of Premier League club Newcastle United. Labour MP Mike Amesbury raised the issue in the Commons: “Is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund a right and proper and fit for purpose owner of Newcastle United?” Comrade Clive Efford added: “It may be one thing for the morally bankrupt Premier League to accept money from Saudi Arabia, but for the UK government to turn round and say it welcomes its investment is another thing.” Labour frontbencher Chi Onwurah intoned: “I think it’s important to say that in utterly condemning this atrocious, horrific massacre [executions in Saudi Arabia], I speak for many, many of my constituents and Newcastle United fans”. All perfectly fair points…

The woke elite of football punditry were quick to join the bandwagon. Always outspoken Labour Party supporter Gary Neville worried: “How were the Saudi Arabians accepted into the Premier League? We don’t know. There’s no transparency and there’s no independence.” Specifically criticising the Saudi acquisition, he said: “there will always be question marks about them”…

You’d be forgiven for wondering, then, why Labour and left aren’t sheikh-ing their fists at the impending Qatari takeover of Manchester United (Guido’s football insider sources say the deal may come to the crunch soon). It’s not clear what moral distinction there is to be drawn between the Saudis and the Qataris – both states have an authoritarian grizzly charge sheet. Officials are reportedly sceptical about the Qatari bid, according to Bloomberg, particularly given controversies surrounding bidder Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani. Once again, the leftie outrage bus is curiously selective…

Labour, which recently enforced a boycott of the Qatari World Cup on its MPs, is keeping a studied silence. As for the football commentariat, the fact that luminaries such as Lineker (£1.6 million) and Neville (£10 million) pocketed Qatari cash for their TV work surely cannot be relevant…