[DTV]

It's interesting how often Lineker's salary comes into this discussion. If he offered to do his BBC work pro bono, would that mean he could express his views?

Quite frankly, I think the whole thing is a load of fuss over absolutely nothing (I genuinely cannot fathom how you'd care) and just leads to loads of people showing their arse. I don't think I ever saw any of the people baying at Lineker calling for Andrew Neil to be sacked from his job when he was at the BBC, despite him regularly expressing his controversial views on social media and having a stake in a highly ideological magazine. But of course they wouldn't, the complaining is purely a shibboleth for whether you agree with Lineker or not. The fact that both he and Neil do/did their job well, regardless of their views and outside interests, is all that should really matter.

I'd also add I find the 'back in your sports box' stuff quite distasteful given the implication that being a sports star makes your opinion worth less.