A BBC journalist has apologised to Gary Lineker following a row over impartiality.
Lineker, one of the BBC's highest-earning presenters, criticised the Government in a Twitter post for sewage being discharged into English waters.
The Match of the Day host wrote:
As a politician how could you ever, under any circumstances, bring yourself to vote for pumping sewage into our seas? Unfathomable!
Neil Henderson responded to Lineker's post, questioning whether he should be publicly showing partiality when the BBC has impartiality rules.
"The BBC lives or dies by its impartiality. If you can't abide it, get off it," Henderson wrote.
He also questioned whether Lineker had a different contract to his, which allows him to express his views.
But eight days later, he issued the following apology:
I'd like to apologise for earlier tweets (now deleted) responding to Gary Lineker. I should have shown more consideration to a BBC colleague - as per the BBC's social media guidelines.
Lineker, who has 8.5 million followers on Twitter, recently said he was "dismayed" by how angry people can get on social media.
"You have always had to be careful what you say but now I think it's another social media addition where people will pounce on anything," he said.
"I like debate, if it's civil, but when it becomes abusive that's a different ball game. I can't quite get my head around why people need to do that. But then there are angry people in the world and social media gives them a platform to be angry."
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