Livingstone admits he only wanted Olympics in London to "ensnare" government

London mayor Ken Livingstone has admitted he “ensnared” the government into bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games. Livingstone told a mayoral hustings meeting that the event was just a way of extracting funding from central government to spend on re-developing the capital.

He said: "I didn't bid for the Olympics because I wanted three weeks of sport.

"I bid for the Olympics because it's the only way to get the billions of pounds out of the government to develop the East End.

"It's exactly how I played it to ensnare the government to put money into an area it has neglected for 30 years."