![\"\\u200bGary](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/u200bgary-lineker-has-taken-aim-at-suella-braverman-s-comments-about-being-an-english-person.jpg\")
<\/p>\nGary Lineker has taken aim at Suella Braverman’s comments about being “an English person”.<\/p>\n
The Reform MP said she does not consider herself to be English because both her parents were born abroad, when speaking on BBC Question Time.<\/p>\n
Lineker said Braverman’s words are “done to divide and rule”, suggesting her “whole plan” was to split people.<\/p>\n
The former England footballer has previously hit out at Barverman when she was Home Secretary, comparing her language around immigration to that of Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the Reform MP’s recent comments, he said on The Rest of Football podcast: “I raise it because obviously we’ve had the thing with one of the Reforms, Suella Braverman, saying the same sort of stuff that, if you’ve got a different skin colour, you’re not English.<\/p>\n
“And I just wanted to read [former Liverpool manager Jurgen] Klopp’s words out.<\/p>\n
“He said: ‘There is absolutely no reason to pay attention to these people. You won’t get my thoughts on this. I have little time in everyday life for idiocy and even less on social media.<\/p>\n
“The great crux of our lives is that everyone is allowed to express their opinion. It’s insane when something like that exists.<\/p>\n
Gary Lineker has taken aim at Suella Braverman’s comments about being ‘an English person’<\/p>\n
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“The world would learn a thing or two from a sports changing room. There, everyone is respected based on the facts and not discredited based on false opinions.'”<\/p>\n
Lineker admitted he was “a bit nervous” about discussing politics, but feels it’s necessary if it impacts football.<\/p>\n
He continued: “We focus sometimes on a racist chant or something at a football game or the occasional problems we have.<\/p>\n
“But in the actual dressing rooms themselves, the harmony, whether, you know, you can be a Christian, a Catholic, a Muslim, any kind of ethnicity, you can be black, you can be brown, you can be white.<\/p>\n
![\"\\u200bThe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/u200bthe-reform-mp-said-i-m-not-an-english-person-i-am-of-asian-origin-it-doesn-t-sound-very-controv.png\")
The Reform MP said: ‘I’m not an English person – I am of Asian origin. It doesn’t sound very controversial to me, but suddenly it has become debatable’<\/p>\n
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“But it just all comes together, and it’s so harmonious. And, yet, politicians and people speaking out in that way, it just depresses me a little bit.<\/p>\n
“I saw someone put a graphic up of all the players of various colours that have played and represented England over the years.<\/p>\n
“I mean, come on. I know it’s done to divide and rule. That’s the whole plan. But it’s worth calling out occasionally. I really do think that.”<\/p>\n
Braverman’s comments from last week sparked conversation and debate after the Reform MP said: “I’ve always considered myself British, of Asian ethnicity, and that’s never been something that I would question.<\/p>\n
![\"\\u200bLineker](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/u200blineker-said-braverman-s-comments-are-done-to-divide-and-rule.jpg\")
Lineker said Braverman’s comments are ‘done to divide and rule’<\/p>\n
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“Of course I’m not English. I’m not an English person – I am of Asian origin. It doesn’t sound very controversial to me, but suddenly it has become debatable.<\/p>\n
“My parents came as immigrants themselves to this country with nothing, very grateful to Britain for the hand of friendship that Britain extended to them.<\/p>\n
“And I’ve always considered myself British, of Asian ethnicity, and that’s never been something that I would question.”<\/p>\n
Braverman’s comments were labelled as “racist” on the Question Time panel by editor and columnist at the New Statesman Oli Dugmore.<\/p>\n
The Reform MP responded: “What you’re saying is I’m racist against myself. You lower the tone of debate; you make it impossible for us to exchange ideas.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gary Lineker has taken aim at Suella Braverman’s comments about being “an English person”. The Reform MP said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[830,218,2855,59,57,58,50,229,70,217,634,56,44208,54,55],"class_list":["post-793498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-celebrity","tag-football","tag-gary-lineker","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-reform-uk","tag-sport","tag-suella-braverman","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}