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Boris was keen to emphasise that he is determined , make sure that the is not exceeded, stop London rate payers paying a penny more than agreed and at the same time stage a Games just as good as Beijing, at less than a quarter of the cost.

Not easy.

In the process he praised Beijing but also described it as , claiming London would prove a great spectator experience, with fans entering the getting a handheld device, or to use Boris's phrase, "a gizmo", to tell them .

His most revealing comments came when asked about the and the whether , in order to claw back some of the £400m allocated for it.

Two weeks ago when I wrote that possible Premiership use by West Ham was back on the table and talks were ongoing, there were a lot of denials.

But Boris confirmed that all options were being looked at, that a Premier League club using the Olympic stadium was certainly an option, but also that it was difficult to square the circle of .

It is the , run by the Mayor, that is responsible for legacy and it knows the is the only paying option for the Olympic stadium.

When an MP asked about housing the media in vacant office buildings instead of a new media centre, Johnson did warn that this might not be practical. Not wise he said to upset the media () - "remember how they rubbished ", he said. "We don't want that."

But he did not rule out the possibility that the media centre might be temporary, an idea that has been floated, and in , is back on the agenda. Something which is worrying who are becoming increasingly concerned about the legacy benefits the Games will bring them.

It would be tempting to conclude that Boris offers up these little gems of information as a result of intense grilling by MPs, but that would be wide of the mark.

The MPs in general showed an alarming lack of sporting knowledge, their questions more concerned with their personal gripes and, of course, what they see as the concerns of .

He may have made in the past, but here Boris seemed well briefed and well informed when compared to those charged with cross-examining him.

At one point, he was actually asked to go into battle with the to make the Games country rather than city-based. An unrealistic challenge he politely declined.

But he did also make clear he is not fazed by the strictures of the IOC and not bothered about .

Given that his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, signed a minutes after in Singapore back in 2005 on the basis of the promises made in the bid book, that is quite a statement.

Boris versus the IOC - that would be one contest certainly worth watching.