Major Sporting Events (Supplementary) [6]

Session date:

October 17, 2001

Question By:

Andrew Pelling

Organisation:

GLA Conservatives

Asked Of:

The Mayor

Question

I will come back to the issue of Crystal Palace; I am grateful to Graham Tope for raising it. Is this an unfair interpretation of what happened immediately after the announcement about Picketts Lock, and I am misunderstanding your tactics? You had made very positive comments about the prospects for Crystal Palace if Picketts Lock fell through. However, you did not push Crystal Palace very hard after the announcement was made. Did you feel it was a lost cause to push Crystal Palace? Did you feel that you had to cut your losses and concentrate on trying to save Wembley?

Supplementary To:

Major Sporting Events

Answer

Answer for Major Sporting Events (Supplementary) [6]

Answered By:

The Mayor

Date:

Wednesday, 17th October 2001

Our top priority is to save Wembley. If we could have only one of the stadiums, it was Wembley that we would have preferred. But it was quite clear to me from the clash of personalities involved and the poisonous atmosphere that there was not the slightest chance of any further bid being entertained from anywhere inside the United Kingdom by the International Committee. That was made pretty clear by the fiasco at the airport, frankly.