London 2012 Olympics: Mayor defends ceremony against ‘leftie’ jibe

LONDON mayor Boris Johnson yesterday stepped in to defend the Olympic Games opening ceremony after a fellow Tory accused it of being “too left-wing”.

Johnson described the event, watched by global audience of around one billion as a triumph for Great Britain.

“It wasn’t global ‘Brito-pap’. It wasn’t just Big Ben and Beefeaters and red buses and stuff. It was actually the truth about this country in the last two or three hundred years told in a big, dynamic way,” he said.

“People say it was all leftie stuff. That is nonsense. I’m a Conservative and I had hot tears of patriotic pride from the beginning.”

Johnson spoke after Cannock Chase MP Aiden Burley sparked a major backlash by branding the ceremony “leftie multicultural crap”.

After the ceremony’s opening section, which showcased British history, including the creation of the NHS and the 1936 Jarrow unemployment protest march, Burley, posted a tweet saying: “The most leftie opening ceremony I have ever seen – more than Beijing, the capital of a communist state! Welfare tribute next?”

A second tweet read: “Thank God the athletes have arrived! Now we can move on from leftie multi-cultural crap. Bring back red arrows, Shakespeare and the Stones!”

Burley was forced to quit as a ministerial aide after attending a Nazi-themed stag do last year.

Downing Street moved quickly to distance Prime Minister David Cameron from the comments, with a senior source saying: “We do not agree with him.”

But Labour frontbencher Michael Dugher said: “David Cameron should show some leadership and demand a full apology from Aidan Burley immediately. Burley has got form. His comments were stupid, ignorant and offensive.

“David Cameron has said that the Conservative Party has changed but it is clear from the words of his own MP that not a lot has changed.”