The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has finally ruled that Gary Lineker broke impartiality rules in a tweet attacking the Tories and their apparent “Russian donors.” This is the same Gary Lineker who, according to BBC Director General Tim Davie, “understands the guidelines” and had supposedly learnt to play by the rules by now. Apparently not.

Here’s the tweet Lineker posted in February to his 8 million followers:

And her party will hand back their donations from Russian donors? https://t.co/1QCzcmAGOF

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 23, 2022

The ECU has now upheld the complaint against him, and declared the tweet “did not meet the BBC’s editorial standards on impartiality,” and they expect stars like Lineker “to avoid taking sides on party political issues or political controversies and to take care when addressing public policy matters.” 

Tim Davie has previously warned that those who break the BBC’s social media rules could be forced to give up their profiles. Guido would put the odds of that happening to Gary at approximately zero…

A vintage Question Time bust-up last night as Piers Morgan and Nadhim Zahawi locked horns over the mini-Budget. No doubt Piers will be happy he managed to get a Cabinet Minister to actually say sorry for something – that and appearing on a show with a six-figure audience watching…

Huw Edwards could leave the BBC as soon as June 2023, after he told the Mail he was “considering his options”. The claim from a BBC source came after the stalwart presenter was photographed at the Global HQ in Leicester Square last month, with a Global source suggesting the current rumour in the building is he could be eyeing up a Classic FM gig. A convenient papping and very open response to the Mail’s questions. Presumably, Huw is using both in his wage negotiations with the BBC…

A BBC source who worked on the channel’s funeral coverage says there’s a ‘general feeling’ inside the corporation that it’s the date being eyed up by Edwards, whose departure would leave a big gap, among other things, in the BBC’s landmark election night coverage – not least after the departure of David Dimbleby in 2017. At this rate we’ll be listening to Amol Rajan read out the 2024 exit poll…

Since the Bank of England announced market operations to purchase gilts last Wednesday, Westminster politicos have been struggling to get their heads round the intricacies of gilt markets. It therefore comes as no surprise to Guido that Nick Robinson was forced into a correction today, after incorrectly repeating the widely tweeted claim that the Bank of England has spent “£65 billion to prop up the markets”:

The claim is somewhat misleading. The Bank of England pledged to buy gilts to the tune of a maximum of £5 billion a day, over two weeks, to assure markets. This means the maximum possible spend was £65 billion, though the actual number will be far smaller. In reality the bank has purchased around £3.66 billion so far, with yesterday’s purchases coming in at just £22 million. The smaller purchase signals the Bank is comfortable with the current state of gilt markets as its credible commitment appears to have paid off. Guido appreciates that the BBC this time took the effort to get the facts right…

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who should know better as an ex-Bank of England employee, repeated the same line: “The fact the Bank of England had to step in with a £65 billion bailout with taxpayers money is deeply shameful.” It is not a fact.

Firstly, the market operation will be nowhere near £65 billion. Secondly, it is not money from taxpayers, it is from Treasury reserves, with the purchases even having the potential to make a profit* on resale. So her “taxpayers’ money” claim is also incorrect. Robbo we can excuse, he only has a PPE degree from Oxford. The Shadow Chancellor, a trained economist, is deliberately and wilfully misrepresenting the facts for political advantage…

*A market source says that marked-to-market the Treasury is currently in profit on the trade.

The BBC has announced it’s moving the World Service – its international broadcaster – to a ‘digital-first’ model, which will see around 382 sackings and multiple TV and radio programmes cancelled. Making an overall saving of £30 million…

The BBC announced the enormous cost-cutting measures today, having already told many of their journalists to relocate out of the UK. The corporation confirmed its Arabic and Persian radio channels will be closed permanently, while a new “China unit” based in London will be created to tell “the global story of China to the world”. Liliane Landor, BBC World Service Director claims it’s all about “expanding [the BBC’s] digital services”…

“The role of the BBC has never been more crucial worldwide. The BBC is trusted by hundreds of millions of people for fair and impartial news, especially in countries where this is in short supply. We help people in times of crisis. We will continue to bring the best journalism to audiences in English and more than 40 languages, as well as increasing the impact and influence of our journalism by making our stories go further.”

The only problem is this has to get past the unions first. Good luck…

In news that will surprise absolutely nobody, the BBC is promoting fashionable left-wing causes on social media, spending licence fee payers’ money on “promoted” articles covering the topics of the Don’t Pay campaign and “How to dress more sustainably“. The Don’t Pay campaign is backed by two other media organisations: the Morning Star and Novara Media. Ethical fashion is something that occupies the fashion pages of the Guardian – anxious luvvies in W1A are no doubt worrying about where their next organic cashmere cardigan will be sourced. The corporation is spending money to promote these issues into mainstream users’ feeds with articles highlighting the campaigns to stop paying energy bills and the movement for “ethical fashion”. While the chosen campaigns might be mainstream at the BBC, they seem a bit left-field to the rest of us…

Could the choice of topics covered signal an underlying editorial bias? Why, for example, isn’t the BBC promoting The Telegraph’s campaign fronted by Chris Hope to finance a new Royal Yacht? Or The Sun’s campaign to hold down diesel duties for white van man? Guido can only guess why…