Tories lose Lineker Culture War
After the Tories unveiled further ‘xenophobic’ (Guardian) legislation to demonise refugees last week, Gary Lineker criticised the language used by Suella Braverman. Clearly they saw the possibility of a Culture War where their bigoted views on the matter would triumph over Linekers.
He was suspended from his role as Match of the Day anchor and given the preponderance of Tory linked suit wearers at the very top of the BBC political pressure, no doubt informal, might be suspected.
That of course is where it all went wrong for the Tories. The BBC’s weekend football coverage was ‘disrupted’ as fellow presenters refused to work in support of Lineker. It could be seen as an unofficial strike, and as freelancers were involved, no ballot was needed (just like in the old pre-Thatcher days..).
On Monday the BBC backed down, apologised to Lineker and reinstated him. He tweeted that Britain was in the main a tolerant country and drew attention again to the plight of refugees.
The Mail and Express, GBNews and bigoted Tory MPs have lost the Culture War they started.
Braverman will attempt to press on with legislation though.
Stand Up to Racism has called protests in London, Glasgow and Cardiff this weekend to resist racism. To underline the Tories Culture War defeat they need to be as big as possible.
Lineker didn’t merely criticise Braverman’s inflammatory language, that observation is a commonplace; he also criticised the ‘beyond cruel’ measure itself.
And rightly so.