Alan Hubbard: Sadly Fizzy Lizzy is not such a good sport as Ballsy Boris

As I opined here recently I am not among those dancing with delight at seeing the back of Boris Johnson. 

His exit from number 10 Downing Street is, in my view, bad news for sport in the UK.

Whatever his faults – and there were many from fibbing to philandering – he was always a champion of the games we play, or watch.

His successor as British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, does not appear to me as being a particularly sporty type. To people in sport she is an unknown quantity. 

My research has failed to unearth any great sporting passion or interest, apart from the occasional visit to watch Norwich City, the football club in her Norfolk constituency.

And oh yes she was there when England’s Lionesses defeated Germany to win the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 tournament in July.

Fizzy Lizzy to her admirers or Dizzy Lizzy to her detractors, Britain’s third female Prime Minister is unlikely to give much governmental thought to the ills that have beset sport, among them financial scandals in football, allegations of racism in cricket, sexual and physical abuse of young gymnasts by coaches and the rising tide of dementia from heading the ball in football or violent play in rugby.

True, Ms Truss has a lot on her plate as she takes office, including the escalating cost of living, the extortionate price of gas, electricity and fuel, the war in Ukraine, and the breakdown of law and order. All of which understandably, leaves sport very much a low priority on her packet agenda.

However, one sporting matter, which Boris was about to address before he was hounded out of office by fellow Tories, is the implementation of an independent regulatory body to oversee football, a much-needed move which is opposed by a handful of the biggest, richest clubs owned by overseas interests including Saudi Arabia, the emirates and the United States.

There are fears that Ms Truss will bow to their demands to scrap the scheme, leaving the “beautiful game” in its current financial mess.

As Gary Neville, the former England and Manchester United star has said “we need an independent regulator for football which is truly independent of the game, empowered to reform and modernise the Football Association, to broker and step in to impose solutions where necessary.

“The future of our game, which is part of the nation’s heritage and history cannot be controlled by oil-rich nation states or American investment funds.”

I believe that Boris recognises that, but will Lizzie? Knowledge of sport is clearly scant and it is hardly reassuring to see that she has appointed someone of similar ilk to be in charge of the ridiculously titled Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), one Michelle Donelan who, as far as I can ascertain, has only one connection with sport.

That is if you can call it a sport – a spell with communications manager for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) before entering politics. Now she has something new to grip and grapple with.

Sport contributes some £17 billion ($19.5 billion/€19.5 billion) to the United Kingdom economy, which in its present parlous state is much needed. 

I have long argued that it is important enough to have its own Ministry, with a Minister for Sport and Leisure sitting in the Cabinet, as in many other countries.

It’s ridiculous and unwieldy that it should be lumped together with three other entities and again, I believe Boris was working towards this.

At the time of writing the current Sports Minister, who reports to the Secretary of State for the DCMS, is Nigel Huddleston. 

Not many know that as he has kept his head well below the parapet since being appointed by his friend Boris two years ago.

He rarely gets a mention in the popular prints and I have never seen him interviewed on TV.

Say what you like about Bojo, but he was always up for a game, whether it be tennis, football, rugby. Anything with balls, so to speak, even if he wasn’t very good at them.

Busy Lizzy is the complete antithesis of Boris, but it will be unwise to leave sport on the back burner for too long. Apart from its massive contribution to the Treasury, it has an invaluable impact on the well-being and morale of the nation.

The current Sports Minister, who reports to the Secretary of State at DCMS, is Nigel Huddleston. Not many know that because he has kept his head well below the parapet since being appointed by his friend Boris.

I am told he is a decent enough chap, but as Sports Minister he is hardly in the league of predecessors such as Kate Hoey, Hugh Robertson, Richard Caborn, Colin Moynihan or the peerless Denis Howell.

Our new 47-year-old PM, formerly the Foreign Minister best known for an affair with a fellow Tory MP some years ago, is obviously keen on promoting women to key ministerial roles.

Should there be a change in the sports department, maybe she should recall Tracey Crouch, who led the fan-led review which calls for an independent football regulator, who resigned from the role when she disagreed with Government policy on fixed odds gambling, which she opposed.

She is a fully qualified football coach and would be an appropriate reappointment in view of England’s success in the Euros and the effect it is having on the advancement of the women’s game.

But back to dear departed Boris. Will he bounce back? Let’s hope so.

Meantime it must be comforting for him to know that his successor can also be a tad gaffe prone.

When she was Trade Minister she had the nation in a fit of giggles when she declared that shortly “I will be in Beijing to open up new pork markets.”

Obviously not realising that the word pork has in the popular parlance, a sexual connotation.

Let’s hope Fizzy Lizzy doesn’t make a pig’s ear of running the country. And does not leave sport sitting glumly on the sidelines.