Hunt: Troops will make the Olympics “safer”

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt today said that the presence of troops in place of G4S staff would make the Olympic Games “safer”.

Speaking on ITV’s Daybreak programme, Hunt claimed that the security firm “probably didn’t know what was going on in their own organisation” before the shortfall became apparent.

He said that doubts about the Government’s handling of the saga were misplaced, and that a secure Olympics was “not dependent” upon G4S carrying out its obligations.

“We’ve been monitoring this contract very closely, we had assurances for a very long time that everything would be all right, and we put in place a very robust plan, so the public can be very, very confident that there won’t be a problem.

“I totally reject the suggestion that we haven’t had a grip on this because we’ve been monitoring the contract carefully.

“They were assuring us right until last week that they were going to meet their requirements. I think they probably didn’t know what was going on in their own organisation.”

Hunt’s comments came after reports that the Army may be required to provide an extra 2,000 troops, in addition to the 3,500 that have already been called up to fill the gap left by G4S staff.