Crisis meeting for England

A special board meeting is expected to discuss ways to restructure the bid to focus more attention on winning the votes of the 24 FIFA executive members who will vote on the tournament hosts.

There is no likelihood however of Lord Triesman, the chairman of the FA, standing down from his £100,000-a-year role as bid chairman.

The meeting will also attempt to end the internal feuding that has threatened to destabilise the bid, with some directors unhappy at the handling of the damaging remarks by FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, while others believe the Government have reneged on promises to provide £5 million towards the £15million cost of the bid.

Richard Caborn, the Prime Minister's 2018 ambassador, insisted the Government was completely behind the bid.

Caborn told the Daily Telegraph: "The Prime Minister and the Government remain fully committed to this bid and believe that this campaign can be won. We have delivered on every single promise that we have made.

"We never promised to deliver £5 million, but we have delivered a £2.5 million loan and more than £350 million in financial guarantees to underwrite the bid and meet FIFA's requirements.

"In addition local authorities supporting host cities will provide £250,000 up front to fund the bid, and around £10 million each to underwrite the tournament.

"We do believe that the bid requires some re-organisation and a new direction to allow the team to focus on winning the votes we need rather than domestic squabbling.

"If that means that there is a need to scale down political involvement and withdraw then we will do that. If they argue that we are an impediment to the campaign we will listen."