AUGUST 16 - JEREMY HUNT (pictured), the Shadow Minister for Culture, and Hugh Robertson, the Shadow Sports Minister, have arrived in Beijing armed with a list of questions about the Olympics.

 

Hunt said: "It is a great privilege - and great fun - to be going, but we will be there with the much more hard-headed objective of trying to learn any lessons for our own Olympics in 2012."

 

Hunt and Robertson have drawn up 10 questions they are seeking answers to, including trying to find out from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about the controversial venues in 2012 for shooting and equestrian at Woolwich and Greenwich Park respecitvely.

 

Hunt said: "The International Olympic Committee reportedly said that we cannot have the shooting at Bisley and the equestrian events in Windsor Great Park as they are too far from the Olympic Village.

 

"This means we will have to spend money on temporary facilities that will be pulled down rather than enhancing permanent facilities as part of an Olympic legacy.

 

"Why then Beijing has been allowed to spread events across seven cities, including hosting the equestrian events as far away as Hong Kong?"

 

Hunt also wants to find out whether Britain are doing enough to support democracy activists in China.

 

He said: "The FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) has tended to favour behind the scenes pressure - and Gordon Brown shamefully said nothing in public about human rights on his last visit to China.

 

"Are we really exerting behind the scenes pressure, as Margaret Thatcher did with [Mikhael] Gorbachev,  or are we just being pathetic?"

 

Hunt, having been a fierce critic of the Government over the escalating costs of building the Olympic facilities in London, also said that he hoped to find out why Beijing staging the Games is so expensive, a reported £20 billion.

 

He said: "That is more than double our budget, and China has the advantage of much lower labour rates.

 

"So where is the extra money going? "

 

"Is it on Beijing's infrastructure?

 

"Is it simply vanity in wanting to host the world's best ever Olympics?

 

" I'd like to understand where the extra money is going."

 

To see a full list of the 10 questions that Hunt has drawn up visit http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2008/08/jeremy-hunt-mp.html.