The BBC vs Gary Lineker saga is not over yet

Editorial: The corporation can only function if it commands a broad base of public and political support

Lineker was suspended too rapidly by the broadcaster (EPA)

The Gary Lineker saga, it has to be feared, is not over yet. The BBC has endured some of the worst days of its existence, and not even because of some great issue of principle or national interest.

The national broadcaster has found itself directly and publicly attacked by every prime minister from Harold Wilson to Boris Johnson, criticised for its coverage of everything from the General Strike of 1926 to the US bombing of Libya in 1986 to Brexit in 2016, and has had to justify its actions in the Jimmy Savile scandal.

In 2004, the director general, Greg Dyke, and the chair, Gavyn Davies, had to resign after the Hutton Inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly. The story of the BBC over the past century has been one of brilliance punctuated by extreme jeopardy. It is absurd that Mr Lineker’s tweet should have provoked such a crisis.