Prime minister to tell summit that leading nations must ‘break the taboo on talking about corruption’, calling it ‘arch-enemy of democracy and development’

David Cameron is preparing to warn fellow world leaders at the two-day G7 summit that starts in Germany on Sunday that the Fifa bribery scandal must be a trigger for international action against corruption.

The prime minister will criticise what he will call a widespread “taboo” in pointing the finger at corrupt institutions, and will say the Fifa scandal has shown how focusing on an organisation can provide the impetus for cleaning-up operations.

David Cameron should start his crusade against corruption in the UK | Letters Read more

“In the last fortnight we have seen the stark truth about Fifa. The body governing football has faced appalling allegations that suggests it is absolutely riddled with corruption. And Blatter’s resignation this week presents an opportunity to clean up the game we love. It is also an opportunity to learn a broader lesson about tackling corruption,” he will say.

“Just as with Fifa, we know the problem is there, but there is something of an international taboo over pointing the finger and stirring up concerns.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sepp Blatter stood down as president of Fifa on Tuesday . His resignation is ‘an opportunity to learn a broader lesson about tackling corruption,’ David Cameron will say tomorrow. Photograph: Ruben Sprich/Reuters

Cameron’s intervention comes amid fears that the US investigation that has led to 47 racketeering charges against 18 football officials could lead to international tensions, with a Russia-led coalition ranged against the west. The FBI is looking into the awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

Before meetings with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and other major country leaders, Cameron will say: “Corruption is the arch-enemy of democracy and development. At international summits, leaders meet to talk about aid, economic growth and how to keep our people safe. But we just don’t talk enough about corruption. This has got to change. We have to show some of the same courage that exposed Fifa and break the taboo on talking about corruption.

“Corruption is the cancer at the heart of so many of the problems we face around the world today. It doesn’t just threaten our prosperity, it also undermines our security.

Greg Dyke predicts Sepp Blatter’s arrest and rules out World Cup in England Read more

“Football is beginning a long journey to rid itself of corruption and it will take time, courage and determination to see through the reforms that Fifa needs. I believe world leaders must show the same courage and determination to tackle corruption around the globe,” the prime minister will say.

Amid fallout from the Fifa scandal, the FA chairman, Greg Dyke, said its outgoing president, Sepp Blatter, will be forced out of the job within a “couple of months” and predicted he will ultimately be arrested. “The great danger now is you get Blatter Mark II. It needs a root-and-branch change of the structure of the organisation. Blatter won’t lead that reform, he can’t do it,” said Dyke in a Guardian interview.

The FA chairman also definitively drew a line under suggestions that England could host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup if there was a re-vote, despite speculation by MPs and Boris Johnson, the mayor of London. Dyke insisted the 2018 and 2022 votes would have to be revisited if clear evidence of corruption was found by the FBI or Swiss prosecutors.



Cameron is examining how anti-corruption targets for the G7 countries can be included with more traditional measures of success such as fighting infant mortality. The G7 has long seen one of its roles as fighting corruption, but commitments to act in communiques do not always lead to visible action.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sepp Blatter with Vladimir Putin in 2010. Photograph: Kurt Schorrer/AP

In the case of Fifa, there is little evidence that aid programmes have been at the centre of the corruption but there are claims that governments have been willing to offer bribes and huge trade deals to secure tournaments in their home country. It is notable that it took the FBI, rather than governments in the countries concerned, to act decisively on allegations of corruption that had been hanging over Fifa for decades.

It’s not expected that the G7, made up of France, Italy, Germany, the US, Canada, Japan and Britain, will say anything specific collectively about whether the 2018 World Cup should be withdrawn from Russia. Few specific allegations have yet been made about the Russian government trying to bribe Fifa officials to secure the World Cup. During a disputed Fifa internal investigation, the Russians said relevant emails had been lost.

The G7 withdrew membership of its exclusive club from Russia last year following the Russian-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine. It appears Russia will be permanently excluded, with fighting flaring again in eastern Ukraine and the issue of further sanctions against Russia is bound to be raised.

A dark day for Fifa after claims of arms deals for World Cup votes Read more

The prime minister will also lead a further review of the British aid programme to see if more can be done to ensure UK aid is not being siphoned off by corrupt politicians or bankers around the world. Under Cameron the UK aid budget is held steady at 0.7 % of UK gross national income.

Cameron plans to hold a meeting with Obama at the summit, the first he will have held with the US president since January when he went to the White House ahead of the UK general election. At that meeting, Fifa may also be discussed. The two men are likely to discuss the fight against Isis in Syria and Iraq, including signs that Isis is making continued military progress close to Baghdad, and in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad.

Britain has been supporting the bombing in Iraq but not in Syria. Cameron is not expected to raise the issue of his plans to renegotiate Britain’s membership of the EU with either Merkel or with the French president, François Hollande. He has held bilateral meetings with both leaders to discuss Europe since his election.

Cameron, accused by some American commentators of effectively leaving the world stage, is going to reassure Obama that he will be a more engaged world leader in the years ahead. Obama, himself a reluctant interventionist, will want to know whether Cameron will maintain a strong British military presence, symbolised by the UK commitment to spending 2% of UK GDP on defence.

The summit is also expected to discuss funding programmes to combat medical epidemics such as Ebola, the risk of a Greek exit from the euro, and climate change.