The Olympics

The Olympics

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News, information and stories about the Olympics.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

The Olympics Black Hole

The London 2012 Olympics continues to cause controversy. It has been revealed that ministers covered up a £1BN black hole in the cost of the London Olympics, when they made the bid to host the Games.

Minutes of a meeting in November 2005 (that was the year in which London was awarded the games), attended by Treasury officials and accountants, show that ministerial aides had been warned of the additional £1BN a year earlier.

This revelation puts further pressure on embattled Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, who has been accused of massively under-estimating the burden on taxpayers.

The original bid showed a cost of £3.4BN, the latest budget for staging the Games is £9.3BN; the reality will in fact be at least £12BN.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said:

"It turns out that Gordon Brown knew all along that the published Olympic budget was wrong, and he's spent the last year trying to cover his tracks."

As I have noted many times before, never ever entrust politicians with organising and running a long term project such as the Olympics. They are not capable.

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