Former UK leader Cameron says corruption led Russia and Qatar to host the Fifa World Cup
David Cameron, the former British prime minister, has hit out at corruption in the 2010 bidding process for the football World Cup that led to the tournament being awarded to Russia for this year and Qatar in 2022.
In his first major address to a London audience since resigning in 2016, Mr Cameron spoke on Tuesday at Chatham House of his shock at the outcome of the process in Zurich, when he led the British delegation with Prince William and David Beckham.
Speaking in the context of his major post-prime ministerial cause, the eradication of entrenched corruption, Mr Cameron described how the “dream team” had received several pledges of support from Fifa delegates only to end up with negligible support.
He quipped that the process was so treacherous, that absolutely nothing was clear, not even the support of his home federation. “I’m not even sure about that.”
The former British leader said the World Cup announcement in Zurich had proved a salutatory lesson for him in the frustrations faced as a result of the scourge of corruption.
“We wanted to lead the world in great sporting events that bring people together. Yet how did Russia end up winning the bid for the 2018 World Cup? I will let you fill in the blanks on that one.”
Asked again about the bidding by Qatar and Russia, which was closely co-ordinated to deliver a rare dual award, Mr Cameron said he applauded the “real vigour” in the way the American FBI had pursued corrupt executives.
He said that the anti-corruption drive would need to save Fifa from itself and its corrupt patrons because it was unrealistic to believe that an alternative world body of football could be created through a breakaway movement.
Mr Cameron flew to the Swiss city in 2010 with a US$100 million (Dh367.2m) Fifa scandal already dogging the English ambitions. He tried to reverse the tide with high-profile supporters and a five-a-side football game at a Zurich school.
“I’ve only got one focus here and that’s trying to bring the World Cup home for England. That’s going to be my focus, talking to the decision-makers and pressing them on the brilliance of English football and what we can bring for this bid,” he said at the time.
“That’s going to be my concern, nothing else.”
The former Conservative leader staged an anti-corruption summit just weeks before he quit 10 Downing Street, following the European referendum defeat for the Remain campaign he led. Mr Cameron acknowledged that political leaders tend not to take up the cause of fighting corruption for fear of stumbling across hidden skeletons, but he said that the summit continued to inform his post-power work.
With the Commonwealth of 53 nations, almost all former British colonies, meeting in London this week, Mr Cameron said fighting corruption was a cause that could be embraced by all governments for the welfare of their citizens.
“To rich countries corruption can seem distant and irrelevant, to poor counties it often seems inevitable,” he said. “Time and again as prime minister I saw it as the driving force behind so many events.”
We wanted to lead the world in great sporting events … yet how did Russia end up winning the bid? DAVID CAMERON Former British prime minister