Princess invited to make the case for 2012 Olympic bid

The Princess Royal is to be invited to the Commons to make the case for London staging the 2012 Olympics.

Until now, members of the Royal Family have never appeared before a parliamentary select committee because of protocol that forbids them intervening in politics.

But members of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee have decided to ask the Princess to attend a two-day hearing at which it will debate the merits of launching the Olympic bid.

The MPs argue that the Princess, as president of the British Olympic Association, is an appropriate witness. She is also one of the three British members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which awards the summer and winter Olympics.

The two other British representatives invited to appear are the Olympic rower Matthew Pinsent and Craig Reedie, the British Olympic Association's chairman.

One committee member pointed out that the Princess had already broken the protocol over political issues last month when she publicly gave her support to London bidding.

He said: "The IOC is a secret society. Its members take an oath of allegiance to the IOC and not their country. We want to know much more about what our representatives do, particularly as we would be asking them to do part of any lobbying for London." The select committee is holding its investigation on 14 and 15 January, a fortnight before the Cabinet makes a decision on whether to support a London bid. If the Princess preferred not to appear in public, she might be able to meet the committee members privately.

The committee's chairman, the Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, has already described the prospect of a bid as "madness" because of the potential cost and problems with transport links in the capital. But his colleagues say he was expressing his personal opinion.

The Princess made clear where her sympathies lay at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Mexico City and made a barely concealed plea for government backing. She said: "The sports are unanimous about supporting a bid and, as the British Olympic Association president, I am happy to go along with that. We have done the homework and we can only do so much."

A spokesman for the association said: "We look forward to persuading all members of the select committee of the benefits to the whole country if we bid."

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said it had not yet received the select committee invitation but the Princess had a "busy diary" for the two days allocated to the hearing.