Tour 'will boost Mugabe regime'

Zimbabwe exile Olonga: "We're still going round this mountain since the first controversial tour in 2000"

Commons Leader Peter Hain said England's cricket tour of Zimbabwe will help prop up President Robert Mugabe's "murderous rule" if it goes ahead.

But Hain insisted the government was powerless to act after Zimbabwean officials lifted a media ban which had offered a way to cancel the tour.

He described the situation in Zimbabwe as "outrageous" and said President Mugabe's power was "tyrannical".

"This tour will give comfort to Mugabe's murderous rule," he said.

But added: "We're opposed to the tour, we wish it hadn't happened but the England Cricket Board is not a department of the Government and it's free to make its own decisions."

Mugabe has made a fool of the cricket authorities and the British Government and it's a shameful day for sport in this country and for cricket Former British Sports Minister Kate Hoey

The British government has always resisted calls, led by shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram, to call off the tour, saying it was a matter for the cricketing authorities.

But former sports minister Kate Hoey insists the Government should have intervened and that the controversy had played into Mugabe's hands.

"Mugabe has made a fool of the English cricket authorities the international cricket authorities and he's made a fool of the British Government and it's a shameful day for sport in this country and for cricket.

"Long ago the British Government should have made it clear - not just asked the team not to go but requested them formally - and spoken to (ECB chairman) David Morgan over and over again to get an agreement where they could work with the cricket authorities to make sure there were going to be no sanctions.

"But this has gone way beyond sanctions now and money. This is actually about playing into the hands of Mugabe and it is shameful, deeply shameful that the Government is conniving with this."

Mike Atherton shakes Robert Mugabe's hand in Harare in 1996

Former Zimbabwe cricketer Henry Olonga said he was surprised Zimbabwe officials had lifted the ban on British journalists.

"The government is usually stubborn on issues like this," Olonga told BBC News 24.

"I think someone has put pressure on them and sanity has prevailed."

Olonga, who quit playing cricket for Zimbabwe because of the regime of Robert Mugabe, said it was time once and for all for the ECB to make a stance.

"I'm sure the England guys are sick of this incessant controversy over touring Zimbabwe.

"I've consistently said this tour should not go ahead on moral grounds and I still believe that, but I do think it's much harder for the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) to make that decision now.

"Having said that, the ECB has to deal with possible penalties if they don't fulfil this tour obligation and the players, they just want to play cricket.

"It's never been an easy argument and we are still going round this mountain since the first controversial tour of England in 2000."