The British government will make a decision in January whether to back a London 2012 Olympic bid.
Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said that a decision on whether an attempt should be made to bring the Games to Britain for the first time since 1948 would be made with “utter realism” and on “cool rational grounds”.
Jowell emphasized that the euphoria over the success of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester would not influence the decision.
The British government has commissioned an analysis into the feasibility of hosting the Olympics. London’s mayor has welcomed the initiative but also insisted that it should be based in East London.
Jowell said, “we have got to take this a step at a time and over the next few months we will be looking very closely at the situation. My department is in the lead but any decision would be a Cabinet one”.
