By David Owen
August 16 - David Cameron (pictured right), the British Prime Minister, is to miss next week’s visit by FIFA inspectors assessing England’s bid for the 2018 World Cup.
Instead, the job of welcoming the inspection team to England will fall to Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport.
A statement by England 2018 attributed the Prime Minister’s absence to a “long standing family holiday” and said he was looking forward to welcoming Sepp Blatter, the FIFA President, to Downing Street “in the autumn”.
Cameron, who is understood to be spending his holiday with pregnant wife Samantha in Cornwall, has recorded a personal video message for the inspection team.
The inspectors are currently in Russia, widely thought to be England’s chief rival for the right to host the 2018 tournament, where their engagements are expected to include dinner at the Kremlin.
The timetable for their English inspection tour will probably emerge by the end of this week.
It is not known if it will involve a visit to Buckingham Palace.
The Queen famously hosted a duck and pear tart dinner for the International Olympic Committee’s Evaluation Commission when they came to London to assess the city’s ultimately successful 2012 Olympic bid in February 2005.
Cameron is said to have spoken to Blatter yesterday to discuss the UK Government’s plans for the inspection visit.
During this conversation he reiterated his personal, and the coalition Government’s, full support for England’s bid.
Clegg is not known as a passionate football fan.
However, he is said to be “very keen” on the World Cup bid, not least because Sheffield, where his constituency lies, is a candidate city.
As well as England, Russia, Spain/Portugal, Belgium/Netherlands and the United States are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup.
These five plus Australia, Japan, Qatar and South Korea are in the running for the 2022 tournament.
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