'Explosive' Wembley report reveals a litany of chaos

The redevelopment of Wembley stadium came up against another obstacle last night after MPs received secret reports into alleged mismanagement surrounding the much-delayed project.

A select committee had been due to cross-examine Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, over the tortuous saga of the plans to build a new national football stadium.

But the Culture, Media and Sport committee abruptly cancelled the session after examining copies of reports into the project by a City troubleshooter and a management consultant. Although the reports had been partially censored, with some names blanked out, MPs were alarmed at their implications.

They went into a private session in which they agonised over whether to air allegations that could be damaging to the fate of the £715m rebuilding scheme. The committee is now expected to call Ms Jowell and other senior figures in the sport, including Adam Crozier, the Football Association chief executive, late next week. After taking legal advice, it is also likely to publish a summary of the reports' conclusions at the same time.

A senior Westminster source said: "Even with the bits blanked out, it was explosive. It was a litany of incompetence."

With talks between the FA and the German bank WestLB to put together a funding package still at a delicate stage, the MPs feared that publication could put new pressure on negotiations over financing the project.

But, with up to £140m of public money at stake in the project, they appeared last night to have decided to press ahead with publication.

One report received by the MPs was compiled by Tropus, a procurement consultant employed by Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL), an FA subsidiary, which raised worries about how contracts were awarded. Following its report, WNSL hired a troubleshooter, David James, to re-examine the project. His conclusions led Ms Jowell in December to order a four-month delay to the trouble-plagued project.

At the time Ms Jowell said there were worries that WNSL had "not adhered to best procurement practices of corporate government arrangements in relation to the new Wembley stadium".

Ms Jowell stressed "no evidence whatever had been found of any criminality or impropriety at any stage of the process".

It is understood the concerns centre on the award by WNSL of the contract to build the stadium to the Australian company Multiplex.

The select committee is expected to challenge Ms Jowell over why she "sat on" the James report and to ask her why the Government has persisted with supporting Wembley's redevelopment despite the catalogue of worries over the plans.

Gerald Kaufman, its chairman and a veteran critic of the scheme, would only say last night: "We're hoping we will be seeing Tessa before long."

Ms Jowell, who last week faced open mockery from MPs of all parties as she announced another delay to the project, is also due to update the Commons by the end of next week.

Yesterday WestLB confirmed talks with the FA were continuing but refused to predict their outcome.

Andreas Seibert, a board member of the bank, said: "We cannot say here and now that we will be the ones carrying through the financing."

He could give no further details of the cost or the deadline it was working towards.

Ms Jowell sparked anger when she gave the FA extra time to raise money for the new-look Wembley after it failed to hit the Government's end-of-April deadline. A rival bid to build a stadium near Birmingham is being kept on ice.

Ken Bates, the Chelsea chairman, was chairman of WNSL when Multiplex won the Wembley contract. He also awarded the company a contract to expand Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground in west London.