Gordon Brown and the £1 Billion "Cover-up"

The Government has been accused of covering up a £1 billion discrepancy in the finances for the London Olympic Games when Britain submitted its bid. The original discrepancy of the £1 billion difference however has now turned into a 6.95 Billion discrepancy with the current estimate mushrooming to 9.35 Billion in March of this year or nearly 4 times the original 2.4 Billion pound estimate.

This latest revelation is highly embarrassing to Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who is poised to take over as prime minister from Tony Blair. When London submitted its bid, he portrayed himself as gatekeeper for the Games, saying the Government would act as "ultimate guarantor" of their final cost.

Shadow chancellor, George Osborne, accused the Government and Chancellor of "trying to cover their tracks". He said: "These startling revelations raise more questions about Gordon Brown's integrity and competence. It's taxpayers who are going to pay the price."

The most disturbing part is that Ministerial aides were told by accountants two months before the bid's submission, and 10 months before the capital knew it had been chosen to host the Games, that the estimated bill for the Olympics of £3.4 billion was significantly short of the mark.

Brown has attempted in the past months to distance himself from Blair and the various scandals and difficult situations Blair has been involved in. Gordon Brown can not distance himself from this however. It just goes to show that not only Blair, but his entire cabinet, are quite happy to lie to and manipulate the British public. Then ,when caught, they attempt to cover it up or make light of very serious situations. A source in Labour close to Gordon Brown attempts to brush off the entire issue by saying, "The Tories are really scraping the barrel if they are making an issue of this. [George] Osborne should stop playing partisan games with the Olympics."

This "minor" discrepancy of approximately 6.95 Billion pounds may not be an issue to this government, however I'm certain it will be to the taxpayers who will end up footing the bill. This government is doing what it does best, breaking promises, lying to the public and then attempting to cover the entire situation up. If you thought Gordon Brown would be any better than Blair perhaps now is the time to have second thoughts.