The Chinese ambassador to Britain has been invited to run through London with the Olympic torch, sparking outrage from critics who regard the move as politicising a sporting event.

Fu Ying, the ambassador, is set to line up alongside stars such as Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Trevor McDonald for next Sunday’s Olympic torch relay through the capital.

If Fu runs, she is likely to be a focal point for antiChina protesters, some of whom are planning to disrupt the passage of the Olympic flame through a series of “track invasions”.

Last night Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall and a former sports minister, called on the ambassador to withdraw.

“I find it shocking that a political figure is being allowed to take part in what is being described as a celebration of sport,” she said.

“It confirms to me and to many others that this torch procession is now simply being used by China as propaganda. She should not be running.”

Only last week Fu berated elements of the western media for providing “distorted” coverage of China’s clampdown in Tibet.

The ambassador was nominated for the London relay by Chinese officials who are sending the Olympic flame on a global tour to promote the Beijing Games in August.

Her involvement was announced last month by Xinhua, the Chinese state-controlled news agency, but organisers in London have not yet officially released her name.

Other torchbearers, including sportsmen such as Sir Steve Redgrave – the five times gold medal-winning rower – celebrities and schoolchildren, appear not to have been informed about Fu’s role.

Critics say her participation – rather than that of a Chinese athlete – makes a mockery of the notion that the torch relay is nonpolitical and centred around Olympic ideals.

Hoey’s anger was echoed by human rights groups. “I don’t think the British public are going to be fooled by the Chinese ambassador as a torchbearer, draping herself in Olympic values while representing a government that is engaged in a brutal and bloody crackdown in Tibet,” said Matt Whitticase, a spokesman for the Free Tibet campaign.

Although it has been called the Journey of Harmony, the Olympic flame’s 85,000-mile tour is in danger of becoming a magnet for demonstrations.

Last Monday, the lighting of the flame in Greece was marred by protesters unfurling banners depicting the Olympic rings as interlinked handcuffs and by a Tibetan woman laying down in the path of the first torchbearer.

The flame will travel to Beijing tomorrow, but its arrival in London next weekend is expected to be the first big flashpoint on its worldwide journey.

More than 1,000 people are expected to protest as 80 torchbearers take the Olympic flame from Wembley stadium to the O2 arena in Greenwich.

Peaceful demonstrations are planned by Tibetan exiles and those concerned about China’s support for the military regime in Burma and its repression of the Falun Gong religious sect.

However, a hardcore group of activists critical of China’s role in Darfur plan to step into the path of the Olympic torch.

“We’re talking about a number of different tactics, including track invasions and banners being unfurled,” said one activist, who did not wish to be identified. “We would want to coincide disruption with more iconic points along the route because that would give us an additional impact.”

Another campaigner said: “If we knew where the Chinese ambassador was running, we would try to target that area for peaceful protest.”

About 2,000 officers are being deployed by the Metropolitan police, including boat patrols along the Thames, in an operation which could cost more than £1m. Barriers will be erected in some areas for crowd-control purposes, but much of the route will not be sealed off.

On Friday, Konnie Huq, the former Blue Peter presenter, admitted she was “wavering” over whether to carry the torch, citing China’s “terrible” record in Tibet. But she later said she had decided not to pull out.

Although Gordon Brown, the prime minister, has ruled out a boycott of the Beijing Games, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has signalled he is prepared to stay away from the opening ceremony if China does not exercise restraint in Tibet.

The controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics has prompted the BBC to take the unprecedented step of lining up Huw Edwards, its main news presenter, to anchor coverage of the opening ceremony alongside Sue Barker.

This week a report by Amnesty International will claim China has failed to honour promises it made to the International Olympic Committee to improve human rights since winning the Games.

A hot issue

The first truly global Olympic torch relay was introduced ahead of the Athens Games in 2004. But China is sending the Olympic flame on a much longer journey – taking in 135 cities and even the summit of Everest – over 130 days before its arrival in Beijing on August 8.

The likelihood that the route will be marked by antiChina protests has led to speculation that the International Olympic Committee may ask London to scale down the torch relay ahead of the 2012 Games.

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