Gary Neville squirms in the Have I Got News For You hotseat over Qatar questions

Gary Neville had to fight his way through hosting Do I have news for you? while the former Manchester United and England defender was offended over his decision to work for state broadcaster beIN Sports during the World Cup.

Neville, who first anchored the BBC news show, was cornered to defend his ‘reputation’ when the topic of accepting money from a Qatari broadcaster came up.

Qatar’s human rights record has come under heavy scrutiny in the years since FIFA gave them the World Cup – with human rights groups outraged at the lack of answers about the deaths of migrant workers.

Neville works for beIN Sports as a commentator during the World Cup and he tried to justify his decision by suggesting that he could make a bigger impact by working for the broadcaster to raise awareness of important social and political issues.

‘You know David Beckham, don’t you? He’s going, isn’t he? How much does he get paid?’ panelist Paul Merton asked Neville.

“I don’t know,” was Marcel’s sheepish reply. “More than me!”

In an effort to regain control of the news agenda debated during the show, Neville turned to Ian Hislop, a long-time panelist on the show, and asked “Is it coming home?”

“What, your reputation?” came the short answer.

Ian Hislop (right) horrified Gary Neville (left) over his decision to work as a commentator for state broadcaster beIN Sports this month during this month’s World Cup in Qatar

Hislop suggested Neville should have steered clear of Qatari money to fight key issues

Hislop, editor of Private Eye, thought other panellists had been “very gentle” towards Neville, though he relentlessly approached the ex-footballer for answers as to why exactly he’s accepted Qatari money.

“The elephant in the room is you commenting there. What’s the defense?’ asked Hislop.

“Yeah, I’m commenting,” Neville said.

‘Well, you have a choice, don’t you? My opinion has always been that you either highlight the problems and challenges in these countries and talk about them, or you basically say nothing and stay at home and don’t go. And I think we should challenge them.’

That defense was simply not for Hislop, who was only too happy to make a legitimate argument for his work at beIN Sports.

There have been numerous protests from angry fans over human rights violations in Qatar

Qatar has been criticized for its treatment of workers during stadium construction

‘The other option is to stay at home and expose the abuses. You don’t have to take the Qatari money. It’s just not a good defense.”

Neville was almost speechless as the live audience applauded.

“That’s…” he said, before declining.

Neville’s appearance on the show made crucial topics discussed around the World Cup, including members of the LGBT+ community who were told by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to “flex and compromise” in Qatar.

“It’s unbelievable and it’s all about money and you’ve got big celebrities going there for huge checks,” Richard Madeley said, unimpressed by the fact that Neville was sitting a few feet to his right. ‘You have people like Robbie’ [Williams] sing there, and I have to say I’m very surprised at all the comments Robbie Williams has made in the past about gay rights.

“The fact that he’s going to be singing there is extraordinary. I don’t know what happened to people. And it’s not just him, the Black Eyed Peas are going, right?’

Last month, Neville defended his decision to join beIN Sports’ media and commentary team for the tournament, which begins November 20.

Neville’s Sky Sports colleague, Jamie Carragher (right), came to defend his good friend

Carragher tweeted that Neville ‘still stood at the end’ after hosting BBC news show

“We talk about Man City like it’s a golden ticket – they’re owned by Abu Dhabi, who have huge problems with women’s rights, workers’ rights, LGBTQ rights…exactly the same, worse in fact, than Qatar,” Neville told Sportmail.

“Qatar has been taking over Amnesty International and the International Labor Organization for the past 10 years because of the World Cup.

“Saudi Arabia has come to our country to own Newcastle and they have terrible human rights issues there – the journalist who was murdered there a few years ago, for example – and people work for them in this country.

“We are deciding whether to work with these countries in the Middle East – we as the UK government have sold around £40bn worth of arms to Middle Eastern countries over the past 10 years, they own half of London and probably donate to the conservative party.

“We either decide that we will work with these countries and try to bring about change through football – and that’s what I think we should always do – or we say we’ll never let them play, we never will. ” a World Cup there, we will never allow them to compete against us because they don’t have the progressive rights they should have.

“That’s the reality I face.”

Neville has vowed to highlight issues in Qatar while working for state-owned company beIN SPORTS