Blair pressed to back Olympics bid

Tessa Jowell is convinced of the case for a London Olympic bid and hopes this week to persuade sceptical cabinet colleagues to back her.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has spoken privately to each cabinet member and had intense discussions with Tony Blair, the Prime Minster, Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minster, and Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport. Support is now understood to be "about 50/50".

Ms Jowell, though publicly playing it straight, "can see the case for it", sources said.

Momentum for the bid is growing, with support from the London Assembly, City firms, high-profile Olympians and Camelot, the lottery operator, which will this week outline plans at talks with Ms Jowell to raise up to £1.5bn.

The rest of the package – to be presented to the Cabinet on Thursday, after a meeting of the Joint Cabinet Committee, which is co-chaired by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Ms Jowell – includes about £600m from a special tax on Londoners and a similar contribution from the government-funded London Development Agency. If the Cabinet agrees, Britain would promptly launch its bid to host the 2012 games.

However, the gut feelings, the "tone" of responses to the proposal from senior ministers (including the Prime Minister, who is yet to make up his mind), are not being taken for granted.

Whitehall sources admitted that there was a significant reluctance to back the bid because of the difficulties experienced with other major sporting projects, including plans for Wembley Stadium, the athletics stadium in Pickett's Lock, north London, and the Manchester Commonwealth Games, which had to be bailed out at the 11th hour.

"This is a government that has had its fingers burnt so often that this could be a step too far," one said.

Ministers are also concerned that the costings must add up and the bid should not be made at the expense of other priorities, such as schools and hospitals.

A Treasury source said: "We would love to see Britain host a major sporting event like the Olympics. The Treasury's view is that you have got to get the finance right, and that presents difficult questions on which the Cabinet as a whole has to take a view."