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 says he had to put his ‘foot down’ to get an NHS sequence on the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony
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.”
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