What viewers are NOT told about Gary Lineker backer and ex-Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell
- Campbell has been presenter Gary Lineker's cheerleader-in-chief this week
- But has not mentioned his podcast is produced by Lineker's co-owned company
- Read more: Gary Lineker 'knows he's in the wrong but won't apologise'
Since Gary Lineker’s dramatic suspension on Friday, Alastair Campbell has been an almost constant fixture on the airwaves as the presenter’s cheerleader-in-chief.
In a string of intemperate TV and radio appearances, the ex-Labour spin doctor has railed against ‘utterly craven’ BBC bosses for taking Lineker off air and accused senior Tories for ‘whipping up’ the controversy.
What he has, however, been seemingly less willing to discuss is that his hugely successful podcast, the Rest is Politics, which he hosts with ex-Tory MP Rory Stewart, is produced by Goalhanger Podcasts, a company co-owned by Mr Lineker.
Goalhanger claims to be the UK’s largest podcast firm and Campbell and Stewart’s show is one of its most popular. The show’s Twitter feed yesterday announced that Mr Campbell and Mr Stewart were recording an ‘emergency podcast’ following Mr Lineker’s suspension.
Mr Campbell reacted angrily when veteran reporter Ben Brown highlighted his ‘business links’ with Lineker during an interview on the BBC News channel on Friday afternoon.
![Alastair Campbell believes Gary Lineker has presented Match of the Day for the last time](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/11/22/68577395-0-Alastair_Campbell_believes_Gary_Lineker_has_presented_Match_of_t-m-38_1678574967616.jpg)
Alastair Campbell has railed against ‘utterly craven’ BBC bosses for taking Lineker off air and accused senior Tories for ‘whipping up’ the controversy
![Lineker, 62, has become embroiled in a row over impartiality after comparing the language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany on Twitter](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/11/22/68577401-0-Lineker_62_became_embroiled_in_a_row_over_impartiality_after_com-a-39_1678575006307.jpg)
Lineker, 62, has become embroiled in a row over impartiality after comparing the language used to launch a new Government asylum seeker policy with 1930s Germany on Twitter
‘That is unbelievable that you feel you have to make that point clear right at the top,’ he said.
When Mr Brown replied ‘Well it’s true isn’t it?’, Mr Campbell hit back by attacking BBC chairman Richard Sharp, who has been criticised for his links to the Tory Party.
‘Wait a minute, yes it is true, but does it mean for example that every BBC bulletin now should begin with the words “we should point out that the BBC is chaired by a man who makes massive donations to the Conservative Party and who helped Boris Johnson with an £800,000 loan”?’
Mr Campbell also came under fire on social media yesterday for comparing a BBC decision to disband the BBC Singers with the assault on culture and the arts by the Nazis in ‘30s Germany’.
Meanwhile, it can be revealed that Goalhanger Films, another company co-owned by Lineker, has strong links with the BBC - affording him huge amounts of power within the Corporation.
The company made the Premier League Show which has been aired on BBC Two for several years, and was also responsible for the documentary, Football, Prince William and Our Mental Health, which followed the future King’s campaign to get British men to open up by using the sport as a way to get men talking.
One well-placed insider said: ‘Gary’s links to the BBC go way beyond him appearing on Match of the Day. He has so much going on with them and the ties that has created are very strong. This is something which the vast majority of BBC viewers would have absolutely no idea about.’
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