London Mayor revokes FIFA hotel freebie: report

Mayor of London Boris Johnson has reportedly withdrawn his offer to let FIFA executives stay at London’s posh Dorchester hotel for free during the 2012 Olympics in the English capital.

According to the BBC website, Johnson’s snub to FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his team was provoked by the decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia ahead of England.

The English bid was eliminated in the first round of Thursday’s vote in Zurich and Johnson, who travelled to Switzerland in a bid to convince FIFA executives to vote for England, has responded to that blow by handing out the hotel ban.

Free hotel rooms for VIP guests are handed out by Locog, the Olympic organising committee, and the BBC say Johnson is understood to have discussed the issue with Locog chairman Sebastian Coe.

Johnson has yet to officially comment on the decision to cancel the free stay, but he had previously decribed the failed bid as a “big blow and tremendously disappointing”.