PM still behind world cup bid despite controversy
By Aled Thomas
David Cameron is continuing to back England’s World Cup bid despite trouble at the FA.
Lord Triesman, the FA chairman and head of the bid committee, resigned yesterday after an unguarded comment about England’s rivals to host the 2018 tournament were reported by the Mail on Sunday.
It reported Lord Triesman as saying that the Russian and Spanish football federations were trying to influence referees ahead of games in the South African tournament, which starts on June 11th.
He also said the Spanish FA would drop its bid in order to help Russia, if the latter ensured favourable referees for Spain this summer.
The remarks are seen as having done harm to the English bid, especially as they came to light just days after Lord Triesman and David Beckham presented the FA’s bid to Fifa president Sepp Blatter in Zurich last week.
One of David Cameron’s first acts at PM was to ring Mr Blatter to underline the government’s support for the attempt to bring the World Cup to England for the first time since 1966.
But he appears to approve of the way the association has moved to contain the damage by allowing its chairman to step down.
Today a spokesman for Mr Cameron said: “”He thinks this is a problem for the FA.
“The FA has acted swiftly. He remains committed to the bid and is fully behind it.”
