The Match of the Day presenter responded with a tweet which featured the “crying with laughter” emoji and said: “Only Twitter can take people off Twitter.” But he was condemned by former CBI chief and trade minister Lord Digby Jones who also took to social media to deliver a sideswipe at the ex-England striker.
Lord Jones tweeted: “The new BBC boss will rein in those who are ‘the face of the BBC’ from entering into party politics.
“Lineker responds by posting a ‘crying with laughter’ emoji and saying ‘only Twitter can take people off Twitter’.
“Get over yourself Gary!
“You’ve taken unfair political advantage of your TV football stays for far too long.
“No player is bigger than the club. Time for that early bath!”
The former footballer has become known for being forthright with his views on the social media platform and has spoken out on topics including Brexit, racism and coronavirus.
In a separate post, he appeared to joke about the BBC’s plans to change its social media rules alongside new coronavirus restrictions introduced by the Prime Minister.
He said: “Think I’ve got it: no more than six people that work with the BBC can tweet together in a pub after 10pm.”
READ MORE: Gary Lineker claims BBC ‘trust’ him to tweet carefully
The presenter has recently signed a new five-year contract with the BBC with a 23 percent pay cut – from £1.75 million to around £1.35 million.
Mr Lineker questioned whether the BBC would have the power to remove its staff from Twitter after Mr Davie told MPs new rules on social media used by employees would mean the corporation would be able to “take people off Twitter”.
In his first appearance before the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee, Mr Davie said the new rules were “imminent” and would cover those working in news, current affairs and beyond.
Mr Davie later said: “I would note that Gary Lineker has actually been very clear in his statements recently, saying ‘I understand I have responsibilities when working at the BBC’.
“Those responsibilities will be clearly laid out and my belief is, as I say, I am now the director-general so I am running the show, and in my view party political statements are not the right thing for people to be making if they are, as part of an impartial news organisation.
“I mean, we will come back with social media guidelines to make clear where the lines are.
“If someone is a face of the BBC I think entering into party politics seems to be not the right place to be and I’ve been very clear about that.”
Mr Davie succeeded Lord Tony Hall as director-general at the beginning of the month.
After taking over the job, he said it was critical the BBC was not associated with “one particular point of view or perspective on life”.
