Northern pettiness will doom the UK's Olympics bid

But, in warning that a ‘North of England’ Olympic bid without London would be a “missed opportunity”, the Mayor of London makes an excellent point.

I can easily understand why the great cities of the North of England would like to replicate the success of London 2012 and get their own slice of Olympic regeneration pie. I also get that there has long been a certain northern chippiness about the capital. But there are many reasons to think such a bid would be weaker – and almost certainly a failure – without including London in it.

Building yet another Olympic Stadium, Velodrome, Aquatic Centre or indoor sports arena seems wasteful and expensive when the UK already has these assets in London. Given the public finances, does that sound like something the Treasury will sign off on? Gordon Brown is thought to have only approved London’s bid in 2004 because he was convinced it would not be chosen by the IOC.

If value for money or sustainability are not enough to persuade the Culture Secretary, then including London in any UK Olympic bid makes sense purely in terms of credibility. The capital has a proven track record of delivering both a successful games and an impressive legacy. The 2012 Games were delivered under budget (just), transformed one of the most deprived areas of East London into a bustling hub for sport and culture, created an estimated 110,000 jobs, and built 2,800 new homes.

Moreover, there is a reason London is the only UK city to have hosted the Summer Olympics, and one of only two cities (with Paris) to have hosted the modern Olympics no fewer than three times. London is the UK’s only true World City. In 2024, London was the second-highest-ranked city for international arrivals, with more than half of all visitors to the UK visiting the capital. London is a global brand in its own right, having been named as the world’s best city brand in 2023 and 2024, beating New York, Paris, Tokyo and Dubai.

London is iconic in a way that other UK cities simply are not. When you hang the Olympic rings from Tower Bridge, a global audience can instantly recognise which city they are looking at. With the best will in the world, mounting them on the Liver Building, Manchester Central Library, the Angel of the North or the Tyne Bridge is not quite the same. It is not impossible that the IOC could be persuaded to envision dressage in Doncaster, but it would lack the instant impact of beach volleyball on Horse Guards Parade and archery at Lord's Cricket Ground.

It is an unfortunate truth the political leaders of the north might want to reflect on that a London Olympic bid without the north could succeed, but a North of England bid without London can’t. Deliberately excluding London from a future UK Olympic bid is not only petty, it is short-sighted and counterproductive.

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James Ford is a political columnist for City AM and a former adviser to Boris Johnson during his time as Mayor of London.

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