Tim Davie

Mr Davie, who is fighting for his own job, is heading up to MediaCity in Salford to talk to BBC Sport staff across radio, tv and news along with Charlotte ...

One BBC staffer told The Times: 'There is frustration with Tim Davie and central management too, both for their handling of the situation and for not clarifying the policy on impartiality in the past. The Welsh radio and TV presenter is the current host of Final Score on BBC One. Former English football player Alex Scott, 38, is a presenter on Football Focus and covered the sport at the 2020 Olympic Games alongside Clare Balding. It has been a violent business.' Maitlis suggested the BBC's director-general Tim Davie had not been forceful enough in defending the broadcaster against attacks from ministers. Since 2021, he has also been a permanent host of The One show. You can feel the power draining away.' Some are also angered by a perceived inconsistency. [Emily Maitlis takes a swipe at former bosses who rapped her for impartiality and says Gary Lineker row has exposed 'organisational weakness' ](/news/article-11857349/Tim-Davie-faces-pressure-resign-BBC-caved-Gary-Lineker.html) And there is some anger towards Gary. Those who decided to go on air were abused on social media and called 'scabs' by Lineker's supports. And some asked why Match of the Day, which ended up being shown over 20 minutes with no commentary, could not have been presented by someone else.

A 'prominent' member of staff described the row as the 'perfect storm'.

This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I’m out of order?— Gary Lineker ������������ (@GaryLineker) She added: “Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is settled now." He has come under pressure to resign with Labour leader [Sir Keir Starmer](/latest/keir-starmer) describing his position now as “untenable”. There’s a complete lack of trust in it, given his own Tory background, Robbie Gibb on the board, and Richard Sharp failing to declare his massive interest. There will now be an independent review of the 100-year-old corporation’s social media guidelines, though some members of [staff are reportedly far from abated](/news/uk/1746021/gary-lineker-bbc-staff-split-tim-davie), including those in the corporation's upper echelons. [Gary Lineker](/latest/gary-lineker)’s tweets and his being pulled off the air, BBC [Director General Tim Davie has now apologised](/news/uk/1745248/bbc-gary-lineker-tim-davie-resign-impartiality-row-migrant-bill).

Dame Melanie Dawes also said the proposed local radio cuts had not been the BBC's 'finest hour' in terms of communication.

it was quite hard to get the information we needed from them. The Ofcom boss said all organisations face questions of what they require of staff. It sounds more like Putin’s Russia to me,” she added. I think it’s fair to say that it didn’t achieve what they wanted,” she told MPs. I think that was probably designed to give a degree of flexibility. “Behind the scenes ...

BBC Gary Lineker row was caused by "ambiguity" in social media guidelines, Ofcom boss Melanie Dawes has said.

“They are challenging the more traditional players. The BBC needs to weigh freedom of expression with impartiality.” “Things can come out quite randomly so we are asking them to set out these changes upfront much more clearly.” “It’s a good thing to see more diverse media on radio and TV and a massive growth of what’s online,” she added. “When it concerns freelancers, actors, presenters and contributors it is a different question. The chaos was caused by a Lineker tweet comparing the language around the UK government’s asylum policy to Nazi Germany.

The corporation's handling of the impartiality row has been slammed 'a total mess' by a former BBC executive.