Gary Lineker 1, Tim Davie 0, part II

From last week’s Mail on Sunday: “Gary Lineker outrageously breached the BBC’s sacred impartiality. We applaud his bosses’ steely resolve.”

This must be a new definition of steely of which I was not previously aware.

That the director general of the BBC would cave in seemed obvious right from the start.

Presumably, there wasn’t a PR man whispering into the steely Tim Davie’s ears: do not pick a fight with Gary Lineker. He is really, really popular. And he doesn’t really care that much.

Others have pointed out that Lineker could make more at a different broadcaster, is very well paid by Walkers Crisps. And was already rich from football, as are his co-presenters Ian Wright and Alan Shearer.

In The Times, the brilliant Martin Samuel noted: “Davie overestimated how much former Premier League footballers need the corporation’s money but, more importantly, he underestimated the popularity of his star presenter.”

At The Mail they are still obsessed with the notion that the BBC is rife with arch leftists, the best example they have being the entirely centrist Lineker.

If Gary Lineker is a dangerous lefty, I’m Atilla The Hun.

For our Find Out Now poll this week we asked if the BBC was right to suspend the footballer.

Support for the decision comes mostly from Leave voters, Conservative voters, and older people.

You can see the full results below.