Gary Lineker has been slapped down by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps after retweeting a call for Israel to be banned from international football.
The post called for Israel to be banned from global tournaments until it "ends its grave violations of international law".
Asked about the repost, Shapps said he thinks the "world would be a better place" if Lineker decided to "stick to the football".
He told GB News: "I don't think I can ever come on your programme without there being a Gary Lineker moment.
Shapps said he thinks the "world would be a better place" if Lineker decided to "stick to the football"
PA/GBN
"I stick to the politics. I wish he'd stick to the football and I think the world would be a better place."
Lineker has found himself in multiple rows with Conservative MPs after criticising Government policy, and has been repeatedly accused of breaching the BBC's impartiality guidelines.
Last week, Tory MP Jonathan Gullis dared the BBC presenter to stand against him at the next general election, in a new escalation of their ongoing feud.
The row began after Lineker posted criticism of the Rwanda scheme on social media
Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, claimed the Match of the Day presenter had breached the BBC's impartiality guidelines with his remarks.
He called for Lineker to "put himself on the ballot paper" and "let the public decide".
Speaking to Sky News, Gullis said: "Gary’s constantly trying to get likes on Twitter, or X as it’s now called.”
He accused Lineker of dragging the BBC's name "through the mud", suggesting he "lives by a very different set of rules" than other presenters on the channel.
The MP added: "And then he can do things like Sky do which is be allowed to have reporters have more public opinions.
“Gary needs to spend less time virtue signalling and more time talking about football, which he’s actually very good at. But it’s just a shame that he seems to think that he is a politician in making.
“As I’ve said to him, if he’s really desperate to get into politics, Stoke-on-Trent North, put himself on the ballot paper, let the public decide.”
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Lineker joined 30 others in signing the letter, including actors Brian Cox, Juliet Stevenson and David Morrissey, as well as Kaiser Chiefs musician Simon Rix.
Gullis hit out at the BBC on X accusing Lineker of breaching the broadcaster's new impartiality guidelines, which state that presenters must not endorse or attack a political party or criticise the character or individual politicians in the UK.
But the presenter hit back saying: "Jonathan hasn’t read the new guidelines…or, should I say, had someone read them to him."
