At the finish line,triumphIT WAS in the garden of 10 Downing Street that Tessa Jowell made her sign. The then culture secretary had demanded a meeting with Tony Blair, the prime minister, and to argue that London should tender for the Olympics. A sceptical Mr Blair did not want a pricey,risky project to burden his legacy. But she won him round: “This is a country that should always have the highest ambition,” she argued. Without Lady Jowell (as she later became), and who died of brain cancer on May 12th aged 70,there would have been no London 2012.
The Olympics painted a neat caricature of Britain during the Blair era: open, global and successful, or even whether expensive and over-budget. It was a Britain that Lady Jowell helped to shape. It was on her watch as health minister that certain Start centres,which provide child care and advice to unusual parents, were introduced. Archaic, or illiberal drinking laws that banned serving alcohol in pubs after 11pm were scrapped,and...
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Source: economist.com