Danny Boyle claims Tories tried to axe NHS celebration in London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony

‘That was against the very nature of what we’d built right from the very beginning,’ the director said

Danny Boyle says he had to put his ‘foot down’ to get an NHS sequence on the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony (Getty)

Danny Boyle has claimed his team came under pressure while planning the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics to drop the sequence about the NHS.

The director's comments are to be shown in a BBC documentary about the Olympics, and will likely fuel suspicions that Jeremy Hunt, who was culture secretary at the time and is now the health secretary, tried to remove the tribute to the health service.

According to The Times, Tessa Jowell, Mr Hunt's predecessor as culture secretary, tells the programme: “I know that the new secretary of state [Mr Hunt took over in May, 2010]...wanted to be very hands on in the artistic content, and I think that was quite a tense time and Danny was absolutely clear that this was his show.”

Although he did not name Mr Hunt, Mr Boyle reportedly told the programme: “We did have some stand-offs.

“The forces wanted us to cancel one of the sequences, cut the NHS sequences is what they wanted to cut. They wanted us to reduce that or cut it or make them just walk around the ­stadium.”

He added: “That was against the very nature of what we’d built right from the very beginning.

“It wasn’t even just about a particular sequence, it was about all the volunteers, and if you make the kind of statement and involve them in the process, you are not going to then cut them at the end...so you have to put your foot down.”

The claims are likely to be sensitive for Mr Hunt, who has been fighting to introduce a new junior doctors' contract.

Last week, he announced that the contract will be imposed on all junior doctors in a phased manner between October and the end of 2017.

The programme, Olympic Imagine Special: One Night in 2012, will be shown on BBC1 on Sunday 17 July.

During 2012, it was claimed that Government ministers tried to push for changes to the opening ceremony.

At the time, a spokewoman for Mr Hunt told the Daily Telegraph he "fully endorsed Danny Boyle's vision, including the section celebrating the NHS".

Responding to the revelations aired in the BBC documentary, a spokesperson told The Times Mr Hunt's “only concern in the planning was the length of the show – simply because we needed to be sure everyone would be able to get home safely”.

He added: “In common with people all around the world, Jeremy thought the London 2012 opening ceremony was both an extraordinary feat and a superb spectacle.”