大象传媒

The day after London was in July 2005, I was asked to research and write a book about the dramatic story of Britain's bid.

With my friend and colleague , the sports editor of the Daily Telegraph, I spoke to a series of key people involved in the campaign before we put the book together with London 2012's former communications chief Mike Lee.

I was, therefore, not surprised when Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell suggested this week that London might not have bid for the Games, had people known that a recession was on the way, .

Judging by what I was told back then, it's pretty much true.

Despite the enthusiasm of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Cabinet was hugely sceptical about bidding in 2003. Gordon Brown, the then Chancellor, was worried about how the project would be funded, expressing his doubts to Jowell in a meeting that, we were told, was pretty stormy.

It was only after former London Mayor Ken Livingstone agreed a financial package with the Olympics Minister as they sat on the white sofas of her office in Trafalgar Square that Brown gave the green light for a bid.

John Prescott played a key role in persuading the rest of the Cabinet that a bid would be a positive thing for Labour. Many of the Cabinet were worried that the Olympics could be another repeat of the . They didn't want that embarrassment.

Some of the influential people I talked to admitted that it really was "touch and go" whether the Cabinet would agree to a bid.

When I quizzed the Olympics Minister on Thursday about her comments, she was keen to talk about the positive side of the Games. She claims her comments were taken out of context and was clearly annoyed when I suggested she had made a gaffe.

There is no doubt her comments are unlikely to go down well in the Olympic world, especially at a time when the bidding campaign for the 2016 Games is gathering pace.

I know what she meant with them, but sometimes it is better to leave the past in the past, especially when the issue is purely theoretical now.