According to reports in the British press, British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s chief media strategist David Hill was criticized Wednesday for his insensitive remarks about the recent Paris airport disaster where four people died Sunday when the roof of a terminal collapsed at Charles de Gaulle airport.
He suggested that the disaster might be an opportunity to boost London’s bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. Paris is considered the front runner to win the bid.
Hill told colleagues at a meeting Monday that the collapse of the ultra-modern Terminal 2E would enable the government to “draw attention to the inadequacies of the French transport infrastructure”.
He prefaced his remarks by asking if anyone from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport – the department overseeing Britain’s Olympic bid – was present, said the Daily Mail.
A spokesperson for Blair did not deny that the remarks had been made and referred to what Hill told the Daily Mail – that they were not meant to have been taken seriously.
Hill told the newspaper “it was a flippant aside made at an internal meeting that was not designed to be serious or cause offence”.
