Despite still being six years away, the London Olympics are already mired in controversy.
Needless to say Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, is at the heart of this controversy.
Livingstone has accused the developers, David and Simon Reuben, of stalling work on the London Olympics project; Livingstone has also alleged that this will cost taxpayers £700M.
The mayor claims that the Reubens have destabilised the consortium behind Stratford's planned £4BN Olympic City.
Livingstone, for good measure, then told them to "go back to their own country" and has refused to say sorry.
Livingstone said that deadlines for the planning applications are already being missed and, if this continued, taxpayers may have to cover costs to get building work finished on time.
He said:
"They (the Reubens) do not have a track record of successfully undertaking major developments, or of working in partnership...and without them, collapsing into squabbling and litigation."
He then refused to apologise for his remark in which he told the brothers to "go back (to their own country) and see if they can do better under the ayatollahs"
Adding:
"I would offer a complete apology to the people of Iran to the suggestion that they may be linked in any way to the Reuben brothers."
London Assembly Conservatives have said that the brothers are not Iranian, but born in India of Iraqi-Jewish parents.
A spokesman for the Reubens said:
"If the Mayor cares to have discussions with either David or Simon Reuben, then we are confident that he would arrive at a more balanced view."
Needless to say, the remarks by Livingstone have not helped matters!
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