2012: the poisoned chalice

The always worthy Wat Tyler has more on the great Olympics fiasco here.

But one further point may be worth making. Given that even before London was awarded the Games it was a near-certainty they would be a catastrophe, shambolically disorganised and miles over budget, the whole quite probably unfinished to boot, it occurs to me that Blair may well have had exactly this in mind when he agreed to support the bid.

From his point of view – from the point of view of any politician – the only purpose of hosting a global event on this scale is the reflected glory it brings in which you can then complacently bathe.

Yet Blair would have known perfectly well that he wasn't going to be PM in 2012. Someone else would have been in the limelight. So there would hardly seem to have been much in it for him.

On the other hand, if you assume that the limelight would actually turn out to be crossfire, then it would be this someone else who was being shot at.

Whether it was a Labour PM – I name no names (see below) – or a Conservative one would hardly matter. They would still be the one being shafted.

Blair could then innocently say, 'Look, I got the Games for you and you've fucked them up.'

There is a parallel here with his stepping down just as the economy begins to falter.

Neat, no?