Jowell appeals for public and media backing for London Olympics

Tuesday, 28 September 2004 12:00 AM

The Culture, Media and Sport Secretary has used her address to the Labour Party conference to urge both the public and the media to get behind the London Olympic bid.

Tessa Jowell told delegates that "our party, has always known that giving people a love of culture and sport, is no optional extra, no act of charity.

"It is giving everyone back their birthright - a chance to play their full part in the life of the nation. Without that chance, it is a life less lived."

Saying that "sport matters", Ms Jowell said it had a particular resonance for the UK as "nowhere more than here is there such a passion for sport.

"I want that passion to become a passion to bring the Olympic Games to Britain."

A successful bid she said would be "good, not just for sport, but for the economy. Good not just for athletes but for a nation coming together."

She promised full backing from the Government, saying: "We're going all out to win. Big prizes are never won by timidity and playing safe.

"To win, we must have the best technical bid, which we have. We must leave a legacy for sport, for London and for Britain, which we will.

"But we must have public support. It is vital for the bid. Public support - and media support - and I appeal for both now."

Ms Jowell also announced the creation of a new sponsorship scheme for young potential Olympians, some of them only 12 or 13 at the moment. These Olympic scholarships will amount to up to £10,000 a year, she said, to "ensure that talent - too much of which now falls by the wayside - through lack of the means to develop it, will be rewarded".

Stressing the need for unity, she welcomed the bid's head, former Olympic champion and former Conservative MP Seb Coe. Ms Jowell concluded: "The Government, the Parties, the unions, business, sport, all backing the bid.

"Let's unite as a country to work for it, win it, and give the world an Olympic Games that none of us will ever forget."

Following Ms Jowell, the Major of London, Ken Livingstone told the conference - his first since re-admittance to the Labour Party - that it is "very very good to be back".

Mr Livingstone stressed the regeneration benefits of the bid for East London, pointing out it will create the "largest new park in London for 100 years". Saying that the bid would have been a "joke" eight years ago, it was now possible as "we are beginning to see the benefits of the Government's commitment to long term investment and it is beginning to transform life in this country".

In the ensuing debate, a London bid was widely backed by the conference floor. Although an official adoption vote will be held this afternoon, nobody chose to speak against the bid, despite the specific invitation of the session's chair, Tony Robinson.

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