The row left the BBC chair, Richard Sharp, fighting for his future as Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt both stopped short of backing him to guard the corporation's impartiality in the wake of the row.
The director general, Tim Davie, jetted back from the US for crisis talks before an internal meeting today that one source in the corporation predicted would be "carnage" without a breakthrough on Lineker's suspension from Match of the Day.
Another senior source said talks were "moving but not there yet" in an attempt to end the standoff with the star, who was taken off air after his tweet condemning Sunak's new migration bill - leading to an extraordinary exodus of high-profile presenters and commentators.
The controversy has left the BBC facing its most serious crisis in years. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have said Sharp's position has become untenable because he is himself compromised on impartiality grounds - having made introductions between Boris Johnson and a friend who gave the former prime minister a loan guarantee.
The former chancellor George Osborne said Sharp's only hope of staying in post was brokering an end to the standoff between the BBC and Lineker. Osborne said Lineker "should help the BBC find a ladder down which to climb" but added: "Personally, I think some of the language used on immigration by some Conservatives - not all - is not acceptable."
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