Lineker’s £1.35m position is said to have become untenable after the latest controversy that angered BBC colleagues, insiders say.

Gary Lineker is said to be on the verge of an early exit from the BBC, with the Match of the Day host's position at the corporation now 'untenable' following a social media post

The video Lineker re-posted then deleted featured a cartoon rat, an antisemitic trope that harks back to 1930s Germany. The rat was overlaid on an explainer of the Israel-Gaza war presented by Canadian-Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu. Screenshots showed it being flagged up on X as hate speech.