Dein met Blatter and FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke at FIFA headquarters yesterday just three weeks before the vote by the 24-man executive committee of the world governing body.

The meeting gave Dein the opportunity to try to limit any further damage to the bid from BBC Panorama's investigation after bid leaders admitted a recent Sunday Times sting had caused significant harm to their chances.

England 2018 need to pull out all the stops because at the moment they look to be behind both Spain/Portugal and Russia - though ahead of Holland/Belgium - in the race for 2018.

There has been a boost for England after it was confirmed that Prince William and Prime Minister David Cameron will be part of their delegation for next month's vote, according to a confidential FIFA list.

The prince and Cameron are included on a list of top VIPs from all bidding countries due to attend the December 2 vote for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

The list, which has been seen by Press Association Sport, so far includes four prime ministers, Prince William, two heads of state, plus former US president Bill Clinton and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Kahlifa Al-Thani.

Prince William is president of the Football Association and England 2018 have long had high hopes that he would attend ahead the presentations ahead of the vote by FIFA's 24-man executive committee.

St James' Palace would not confirm today whether the prince would be going to Zurich. For security reasons, members of the Royal family's movements are not usually confirmed until much closer to the date of travel.

The Prime Minister has become heavily involved in trying to revive England's bid after it was "significantly damaged" by the fall-out from the Sunday Times investigation into FIFA.

England 2018 had submitted a provisional and confidential list to FIFA and this is the first time that the presence of both dignitaries has been confirmed. England can include 30 people in their delegation and bid leaders also hope David Beckham will be going to Zurich to back the bid.

Russia have deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov named, although it is understood FIFA have also been told that their prime minister Vladimir Putin will be attending.

Holland/Belgium also have political heavyweights in their delegation with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and his Belgian counterpart Ives Leterme both included.

The fourth 2018 bidder Spain/Portugal - in some eyes the new favourites - have so far only named their countries' sports ministers in their delegation.

Australia's prime minister Julia Gillard will go to support their 2022 bid, while Clinton is backing the USA, and Qatar have the Emir plus other members of their royal family.

The list of dignitaries is completed by Korea's president Lee Myun Bak and former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Cameron is in Korea for the Group 20 summit and has held talks there with their FIFA vice-president Chung Mong-Joon, whose vote could be one of the keys to England's hopes.

FIFA have also told all bidding committees that their bid evaluation reports are due to be sent out by tomorrow and will be published on Wednesday - the same day that FIFA's ethics committee are due to deliver their verdict into the Sunday Times allegations.

The ethics committee will rule on two executive committee members, Nigeria's Amos Adamu and Tahiti's Reynald Temarii, who have been suspended following allegations they asked for cash for projects in exchange for their votes. They deny any wrongdoing.

The committee will also issue a judgement on allegations that Spain/Portugal and Qatar have colluded with each other in contravention of FIFA's bidding rules.