BORIS JOHNSON has been accused by an MP of backing Tottenham in the club’s race with West Ham to take over the Olympic stadium after the 2012 London Games.
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“There are rumours that the Mayor encouraged Spurs to bid,” Tottenham MP David Lammy told a House of Commons committee yesterday.
“That seems to me to be an absurd and ridiculous decision.”
Lammy’s “rumour” has since been denied by Johnson’s aides, but the suspicion that the Mayor favours Tottenham linger, partly because he has previously stated he wants a big name tenant for the Olympic site.
Tottenham are seen as more high profile than West Ham, more so should the Hammers suffer relegation from the Premiership this season.
Like most Lillywhite fans, Lammy wants Spurs to go ahead with plans to redevelop their historic White Hart Lane ground. The economic impact of Tottenham upping sticks would be severe, the MP believes.
“Never did I imagine our successful Olympic bid would mean that residents of Tottenham, and those of Enfield, Waltham Forest and the whole of the Upper Lea Valley would have the heart and soul ripped out of their communities,” he said.
Lammy wants the government to push for West Ham to be given preferred-bidder status, but so far official neutrality has been the credo.
The next couple of months will decide the issue. Lammy is due to meet Tottenham officials towards the end of January and in March, the Olympic Park Legacy Company will pick a winner.
