British culture secretary Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday defended doubling the amount of money spent on the opening ceremony of the London Olympics in July and August as “a unique moment” and an “extraordinary business opportunity.”
Hunt said, “It is an extraordinary business opportunity. There are tourists all over the worlddeciding which country to visit, students deciding which country to study in, and businessmen deciding where to invest in, and if you get something like the opening ceremony of the Olympicsright is very good for our national brand in a way which is very hard to quantify.”
“But I have no doubt it will be extremely positive for British businesses and British jobs,” he added.
Hunt was speaking at the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee made up of MPs in the House of Commons. MPs questioned Hunt closely on why the budget for the opening ceremony of the Games, which take place on July 27.
The original budget for the opening ceremony of the Games of 41 million pounds (about 64 million U.S. dollars) was almost doubled shortly before Christmas to 80 million pounds (about 125 million U. S. dollars) with only eight months to go before the Olympics started.
“It was a decision we looked at very hard. It is less than the Canadians (for the Vancouver Winter Olympics) spent on their opening ceremonies and less than the Russians (for the 2014 Winter Olympics) are planning to spend on their opening ceremonies,” said Hunt.
“You would be questioning me much more critically if we had not made the most of the unique moment which is potentially going to be seen by four billion of the world’s seven billion population.”
Hunt said that despite the faltering economy, with growth this year pencilled in as only 0.9 percent and with rising unemployment and the prospect of further cuts in the coalition government’s spending to meet its targets at reducing public debt, the British government was “saying that we are not going with the conventional wisdom that at times of austerity you should rein back on absolutely everything, because we think that this is a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity.”
Hunt revealed the cost of the opening ceremony could have been even greater had the director Danny Boyle had his way. “Boyle wanted a higher price tag than was in his original budget, and a higher price tag than we were willing to pay, and so. We came to an agreement for a ceremony that we can be very proud of,” added Hunt.
Sports minister Hugh Robertson was also questioned by the committee over the future of two of the major buildings on the Olympics complex in east London.
With just over six months to go until the Games begin, no future has yet been found for the centrepiece building, the Olympic Stadium, or the Media Center, which will house thousands of journalists from across the world for the period of the Olympic Games and the following Paralympic Games, but which at present has no future beyond that.
The Olympic Stadium had attracted interest from several of England’s top-ranking London-based football teams, including Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United, but no deal was agreed.
Robertson said that there was still six months to go, and of the eight major Olympic buildings, six had secure futures beyond the Games which was “an achievement we can be very proud of.”
