Blair says wife Cherie played instrumental role in securing Olympics deal for London

London, July 23 (ANI): UK's former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that his wife, Cherie Blair, played an instrumental role in securing Olympic Games for London.

He said that his wife quietly lobbied with many of the lesser known International Olympic Committee delegates.

"It was the strangest electorate that I have ever had to deal with, because it is just about 120 people", The Guardian quoted Tony Blair, as saying.

"Strangely, my wife played a very big part in this really because, of the 120, some were the great and the good and were very well known, and then you had the others who worked in sports administration and they were also on the committee," he said.

The success of the bid was previously put down to a number of prominent people, including Ken Livingstone, Sebastian Coe and David Beckham, and Cherie Blair's role may come as a surprise to many.

Blair said that his wife had travelled abroad to speak to some of the less well-known delegates to help secure their votes.

"People tended to make a big fuss of all of the big names, but everyone had the same vote. My wife was very good at going to different countries and seeing people who were the less significant people. By the time we got to Singapore, we actually knew these people, I met them and was talking to them," he said.

Blair's comments came as Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, toured television studios to insist that the city was as prepared as any previous hosts five days before the start of the Olympic Games. (ANI)