Gary Lineker: presenter received 'standing ovation' in Marks & Spencer following BBC impartiality suspension

Gary Lineker has said that following his suspension from the BBC earlier this year, he was given a "standing ovation" in a Marks & Spencer store.

The Match Of The Day host, 62, was taken off air by the corporation after becoming embroiled in an impartiality dispute in March, when he compared the language used to introduce a government policy regarding asylum seekers with 1930s Germany on Twitter.

Benching Lineker sparked a backlash and resulted in a number of his fellow sports pundits, including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, boycotting Match Of The Day. Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Lineker said the fallout was “all pretty sad”.

“What the boys did was incredible,” he said, referring to Wright and Shearer. “It was incredibly moving. For me, as the person they stood up for, it meant a lot. I cried in the back of the taxi.”

He added: “I recall walking to M&S two or three days in, and I got a standing ovation… Well, I suppose everybody’s standing in M&S, but even so. It was really cringe. I didn’t know what to do. I just thought, ‘Please stop’.”

Lineker returned to his presenting duty on 18 March, where he fronted live coverage of Manchester City’s FA Cup quarter-final against Burnley alongside Shearer and Micah Richards.

Following the incident BBC director-general Tim Davie said the corporation had commissioned an independent review of its social media guidelines, particularly for freelancers.

Davie apologised for what he acknowledged had been “a difficult period for staff, contributors, presenters and, most importantly, our audiences” and described the BBC’s commitment to freedom of expression and impartiality as a “difficult balancing act”.