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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Dave Burke

Weak Rishi Sunak blasted for failing to stand up to 'snowflake' Tories over Gary Lineker

Weak Rishi Sunak was accused of failing to stand up to "snowflake" Tories who flew into a rage over a tweet by Gary Lineker - as he took more flak over the BBC chairman.

The Prime Minister was asked why he didn't object to Conservatives "trying to cancel a football highlight show".

Labour leader Keir Starmer branded Mr Sunak "too weak" to tackle "cancel culture addicts" within his own benches, saying: "The country saw how he kept quiet and hid behind the playground bullies why they tried to drive someone out simply for disagreeing with them".

And in another dig in the ongoing row over BBC chairman Richard Sharp - who helped arrange an £800,000 loan for former PM Boris Johnson - Mr Starmer asked if Mr Sunak thought his "friend's" position is tenable.

The Labour leader told the Commons: "He's (Mr Sharp) been described as so close to the Prime Minister he's been described as his mentor.

MPs heard that Tories tried to cancel a football highlight show (Getty Images)

"He helped to arrange an £800,000 credit line for the former prime minister (Boris Johnson), a minor detail he forgot to tell the select committee which scrutinised his appointment."

"Does the Prime Minister think that his friend's position is still tenable?"

The Prime Minister insisted the review process was "independent", adding: "Instead of pre-judging, and pre-empting that review we should let it conclude and wait for the outcome."

The BBC has been accused of caving in to the government after a string of Tory MPs demanded Mr Lineker was taken off air, while Jonathan Gullis branded the ex-England striker a "whining crybaby".

Mr Starmer asked: "Last summer the Prime Minister claimed he wanted to protect free speech and put a stop to no platforming. So how concerned was he by last week's campaign by Tory MPs to cancel a broadcaster?"

Rushi Sunak replied: "As I said at the time, the issues between Gary Lineker and the BBC were for them to resolve and I'm very glad that they did and we can look forward to watching Match Of The Day again on our screens."

The Labour leader asked: "Does he accept the public's concern about the BBC have been made worse because the government

Earlier today The Mirror reported that Mr Lineker had blasted a Tory MP for "outrageous and dangerously provocative" claims that he called northern voters "racist bigots".

The Match of the Day host rubbished comments from right-wing Tory Jonathan Gullis, who made the accusations during a TV interview where he boasted that he was not concerned with upsetting members of the "Twitterati".

Mr Gullis, a former minister, told Channel 4 that Rishi Sunak's hardline illegal immigration bill was "certainly tough and upset all the right people in the right places".

"Let's be clear, when I talk about upsetting people I'm talking about the Twitterati, the Wokerati of North Islington, those champagne socialists who pontificate all day," he ranted.

"Those are the people I don't care upsetting, because those are the people who want to call people up here racist bigots, Nazis, like Gary Lineker has done."

Responding to a clip of the exchange, another Twitter user wrote: "I don't think Gary Lineker has actually directly called Red Wall voters 'Nazis' Mr Gullis."

Mr Lineker replied: "No he hasn't and never would. This is outrageous and dangerously provocative."

The MOTD presenter will be back on TV this weekend after an explosive impartiality row triggered by his criticism of the Government's small boats crackdown.

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