Blair in 'intense' last-minute Olympic lobbying

British Prime Minister Tony Blair will leave Singapore tonight after two “very, very intense days” of talks with International Olympic Committee delegates believing “it’s all to play for” in London’s 2012 bid for the games.

Mr Blair’s official spokesman said of the frantic 48-hour charm offensive by both Mr Blair and his wife Cherie: “It has been two very, very intense days for the Prime Minister, seeing people constantly.”

He added: “We have gone for it – we still believe it’s all to play for.”

Mr Blair’s final engagement before leaving Singapore – where the IOC will make its crunch venue decision tomorrow – was to mingle at an official reception with the other heads of government from rival bid cities Paris, New York, Moscow and Madrid.

French president Jacques Chirac, who arrived in Singapore today, refused to be drawn into any diplomatic wrangle with Mr Blair over reports that he made remarks running Britain down at a weekend summit with Russia and Germany.

The French president insisted he wanted to talk only about the merits of the Paris bid.

Mr Blair’s spokesman insisted: “As for the result of the vote, the honest answer is I don’t know.

“All we do know is that there’s a lot of respect out there for the London bid, for the way in which Seb Coe and his team have put it together and we think that’s due and right because we think it has been done very, very well.

“We leave tonight knowing that the bid team have done all they can to win the bid and we have done all we can to support them.”

Later today Mr Blair flies to Scotland to host the G8 summit at Gleneagles, where he will learn the result of the IOC ballot on the venue for the 2012 Games.