[DTV]

There actually was some backlash to Andrew Neil’s tweeting, he was asked to tone it down by BBC bosses if I recall - and it got some coverage at the time.

My point wasn't that there was no complaint, just there is no overlap in the complainants - meaning that the complaints are not sincerely done out of principle, but motivated purely by tribal politics. Not a single one of the media outlets or politicians complaining about Lineker would have an issue if he had endorsed the policy, they'd no doubt be pointing at liberals campaigning to have him sacked as an example of 'cancel culture' and a threat to 'free speech' - both things that tabloids are, of course, genuinely concerned about .

The reality is, if you actually want to go down the 'you're a BBC face (i.e., people would primarily associate you with your BBC work), you cannot express any views that could be deemed political' route without any exceptions, that's Michael Portillo gone; David Attenborough, out; dozens of science presenters and pretty much the entire comedy industry blacklisted. Doctor Who is as prominently BBC as Match of the Day, should the rules apply to the stars of that too? An actually complete ban would be destructive, so any restrictions should purely be limited to those for whom expressing political views undermines their ability to do their job correctly (i.e., on air News staff, off air editorial News staff and BBC executives).