Has there ever been a better time to be a British Minister for Sport? The nation is about to celebrate the first anniversary of London's Olympic Games and basks not only in the current heat wave but the golden afterglow of wondrous 2012. No wonder a shirt sleeved Hugh Robertson is smiling broadly.

He has just returned from watching England strike the first blow in the Ashes, conscious that getting one over the Aussies fuels the pervading feel-good factor. "Not only has there never been a better time to be Sports Minister, I can't think of any stage of my adult life when there has been a better time for British sport collectively," he beams in an exclusive interview with insidethegames.

Some of us are old enough to recall the wild euphoria of 1966 and all that – at least south of Hadrian's Wall –but it is fair to say that the last 12 months, particularly the current one and those of July and August last year, have put even Sir Alf Ramsey's momentous slice of history into the shade.

Robertson says: "After the Games the question I was most asked was 'how do you follow that?' But we have just witnessed a fabulous Lions victory in Sydney, followed by Andy Murray's wonderful win at Wimbledon, defeating the Aussies in the first Test and being favourites for the Ashes series, and Chris Froome looking set to follow Bradley Wiggins as winner of the Tour de France.


"Also, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that we could have a British winner of the Open at Muirfield." (Which incidentally he won't attend because of the club's ban on women members. Quite right too).

He adds: "Then we've still got the rugby league World Cup and the international triathlon series in which a Brownlee – or two – might do very well. When I look at the results of the Olympic sports there is certainly no sign of 2012 being a one-off."

Over the years I have seen an entire rugby XV of British Sports Ministers come and go – the good, the bad, and the useless. Only a handful could touch the hem of the incomparable original Denis Howell in what has not always been the most prestigious or rewarding of political appointments. But in the three years he has been in office – after shadowing the role for six – the 50-year-old Robertson, in my view, comes pretty close. He is certainly up there with the best.

As I wrote at the time of his appointment in Opposition, for a Tory, he's not a bad bloke, one of the most decent and fair-minded politicians I have encountered.

The dapper ex-Army major who saw active service in Northern Ireland, the Gulf War and Bosnia, has a good grasp of what sport is about at all levels and is a genuine enthusiast, unlike some of his party's lame-duck predecessors (Colin Moynihan a notable exception). Nor does he bask in reflected glory like some we could name at Westminster.

Some in football, a sport he has commendably taken to task, over its lamentable administration, may demur but his is a benevolent presence in the sporting arena, hardly surprising with Government investment in sport higher than it has ever been.

"The best move we ever made was changing the Lottery allocations back in 2010," he says. "This has given British sport a period of stability and continuity it previously lacked. A lot of credit must go to UK Sport and Sport England. Both those agencies are now stronger than they have ever been since Lottery funding was introduced."


One dampener amid the sunshine celebrations is the continued cynicism over Olympic legacy. Is there one, and if so what exactly is it? Robertson has no doubts. "People are naturally interested in what may be going wrong rather than what is going right. But if you told me a year ago we would be where we are now I would have been surprised and delighted.

"No other nation has ever increased the money for Olympic and Paralympics after a home Games.

"No other home nation has ever increased the number of people participating. I know there was a fall-off in the last figures but it was never going to be a constant uphill curve. Even allowing for that we still have an extra 1.4 million people playing sport.

"There have never been more major sports events coming to this country. Look at the 14 million kids from 20 different countries touched by International Inspiration. And in the teeth of the recession we have managed to solve the issue of school sport by finding another £150 million ($226 million/€172 million) investment. If you look at it in that light, it is an extraordinarily compelling package.

"In terms of legacy at the beginning of the year we had two key things that needed sorting – the future of the Olympic stadium and school sport. Both are now in a much better place."

Of course, it is Robertson's job to push the Government line over legacy but while he does so earnestly he warns: "I would hate to think that anyone will make a spot judgement about legacy on the 27th July – you will have to wait until July 27 2017 or 2022 before you see what difference the Games have made. But the signs are healthy."

In a corner of his airy office on the fourth floor of the Treasury building at the foot of Whitehall, where the department of Culture, Media and Sport now lodges, there is a large wooden hat-stand. It has ten curved hooks.

He now needs all of them as he wears so many hats in his promoted role as Minister of State.

Apart from sport and Olympic legacy there, his portfolio embraces tourism, gambling, ceremonials, national, parks, de-regulation and departmental re-organisation. He was recently prominent in pushing through the Equal Marriage bill and, and earlier this found himself involved in de-regulating the music industry.

"I seem to be the Minister for all sorts of things but I am never conscious that sport is not getting enough of my time. That remains my priority.

"Things may be going well at the moment but there are re some big challenges ahead – notably doping, particularly in the light of recent events, and the increasing worry of illegal gambling, and racism. There are masses to do. I have long days to fill but I am still loving it."

There's no doubt DCMS is a happier ship these days than this time last year, and Robertson gently chides me for my recent criticism here of his new boss as Culture Secretary, Maria Miller.


This followed her personally blocking the appointment of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson as Sport England chair, who Robertson himself had backed for the job. I suggested that Miller knew naff-all about sport, and that her role as Games Mistress was pointless.

But Robertson springs to her defence. "Maria deserves enormous credit for her help with sport over the Spending Review. Despite a tough economic backdrop, our major participation agency has an extra £25 million ($38 million/€29 million) of funding.

"She's a joy to work with and she does get what sport is about. She's been on a sailing course and as a mother she understands the value of sport to kids."

Apart from the TGT blip, she obviously leaves Robertson to get on with the job, which is as it should be. And no doubt his view is coloured by the less-than-joyous experience of working under the stewardship of her predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, whose interfering DCMS tenure before being upgraded to Health Secretary underscored the adage that when it comes to sport a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Another of Robertson's missions is to get as many major sports events to Britain as possible, which would also be a feather in his tourism cap.

But Commonwealth Games host city Glasgow's shock early elimination in this month's vote for the 2018 Youth Olympics, finishing well behind Colombia's Medellin and winner Buenos Aires, suggest that Britain is over-stretching itself in bidding for so many of the world's top prestige sporting events?

There is a feeling abroad that too many major championships have been coming this way on the back of London 2012, with 24 already secured and a total of 70 targeted over the next five years. These figures have certainly helped elite sport do better than expected in a Spending Review which has guaranteed almost half a billion in Lottery and Exchequer money up to Rio 2016. But is such intense ambition costing international goodwill?

Robertson agrees with me that there could be too much of a good thing. We've had a fantastic run since 2012 and we now have to be a little more strategic in what we go for.

"It was clear to me in Lausanne that Glasgow had an excellent bid but afterwards five important IOC members came up to me and said 'We we would have voted for the UK every time but you just have too much.' "


No doubt Robertson's own career could have taken a different direction had he wished. He is close to Prime Minister David Cameron and twice turned down offers of promotion to higher office while on the Opposition front bench, and, I understand, a Cabinet post subsequently.

Any regrets that he has opted to stick with sport?

"None at all. I still regard myself as extraordinarily fortunate to have done this job. Even when we were getting a lot from flak at times over the Olympics there hasn't been a single morning when I've got out of bed and thought 'I wish I wasn't doing this'. I still have the same enthusiasm for doing it now that I had when I started."

Yes Minister, as you say there could not be a better time to be in charge of British sport. Let's hope that not only weather-wise it's a long, hot summer.

Alan Hubbard is a sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday, and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.