Baroness Tanni, one of Britain's greatest athletes with 11 gold Paralympic medals to her name, was long considered the front-runner to replace Richard Lewis as Sport England chair and was recommended to Downing Street for the prestigious position.

But a number of Conservative Peers moved to block the appointment of the crossbencher, saying she was "too political" for the job.

It is thought objections were raised because of her fierce criticism of the Government's disability pension reforms but the controversial decision has led to calls for more transparency in their selection procedure.

"The Government must come clean about a process where a significant about-turn was made at the last minute," said Efford, the Labour politician who has been the MP for Eltham since 1997.

"The sources that I have tell me that the Government had decided on Nick Bitel as vice-chairman and then for some strange reason, changed that decision."


The interview panel headed by Sir Keith Mills, the former chief executive of London 2012, originally recommended Baroness Tanni to replace Baroness Sue Campbell as UK Sport chair with Bitel proposed as the new Sport England chair.

But Sports Minister Hugh Robertson decided to overrule the panel, instead favouring Rod Carr as UK Sport chair and Baroness Tanni and Sport England chair.

Carr was unsurprisingly rubber-stamped as UK Sport chair but Baroness Tanni was dropped in favour of Bitel in a move that appears to have been badly mishandled by the Government.

And while Efford has backed Bitel to be successful in the role, he says the appointment has been overshadowed by the flawed recruitment process.

"I think both Nick and Tanni are excellent candidates but what is wrong here is the shabby and shambolic way the Government has made this appointment," said Efford.

"This is unfortunate for Nick Bitel, who is an excellent candidate and who has done an excellent job for the London Marathon.

"But his appointment has been tarnished."

Baroness Tanni has handled the situation diplomatically by saying that she "respected the decision" but is privately understood to be let down having been backed for the role by a number of high-profile figures, including London 2012 and British Olympic Association (BOA) chairman Sebastian Coe, himself a Conservative Peer.

The move has been widely seen as "a political stitch-up" with senior figures at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) unhappy that the pioneering Paralympian, who played a key role in promoting the London 2012 Paralympic Games, has been treated in such a way.

It is also an unnecessary embarrassment for Bitel, who has received huge plaudits for his work as London Marathon chief executive, particularly in the last week when he ensured that the famous race went ahead safely and successfully following calls for it to be abandoned in the wake of the tragic Boston Marathon bombings on April 15 that saw three people killed.

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