Labour has no right to crow about British success at the Olympics

Perfectly timed with Brown's gladhanding trip to the Olympics comes a great little article from Brian Moore (who was, IMHO, one of the greatest Union players of his generation) on New Labour's attempts to claim glory thanks to (ahem) "Team GB":

The Government claim their tripling of funding for elite sport, to £265 million, is, in part, responsible for the success of Team GB in Beijing.

However, the claim compares funding over four-year cycles between Games. Until two years ago, extra funding was only £2 million above the Sydney cycle of £63 million; the £200 million extra funding was announced in the first budget after London was awarded the 2012 Games.

This hike in funding had more to do with having to back the London Games with solid cash, rather than a conscious effort to increase the chances of those presently competing.

Not all of this extra sum has been distributed to athletes and in any event, the long term preparations untaken by the members of Team GB started when funding by the Government had increased imperceptibly.

The main reason for the increased success is the professionalism of those sports that have given their athletes the best possible preparation; that, and money from the National Lottery, the creation of which Labour opposed