Blair wanted to keep failed Dome open for a few months longer

Published on Friday 2 January 2004 00:00

TONY Blair wanted to keep the Millennium Dome open beyond its scheduled closure date despite warnings about the cost, it was disclosed yesterday.

David James, the chairman of the Dome Management Company, said the Prime Minister had been keen to see the edifice stay open, believing that the public was finally coming round to supporting the costly extravaganza.

Mr James said Mr Blair personally intervened after a late rush of visitors wanting to see the attraction before it closed.

"There was a very determined effort made, led by Tony Blair himself, about two weeks before the Dome was due to close in December 2000, when he said, ‘Look, the figures have improved greatly in recent weeks, the numbers of people coming through are at an all-time high for the whole year. Why don’t we keep it open for another couple of months, give it a few more months?’" Mr James told the BBC’s Today programme.

The idea was rejected by the Millennium Commission, which explained that contracts for staffing and equipping the building ended on 31 December and keeping it open would be expensive. "We estimated that the cost of staying open would be up to 2 million a week, around 8 million a month," added Mr James.

The government had hoped that the Dome would match the achievements of the 1951 Festival of Britain, but the project, in Greenwich, south London, was dogged by cost problems, poor reviews and low visitor numbers.

It had been predicted that 12 million people would visit the exhibition - an array of entertainments and exhibits designed to highlight the achievements of 21st century Britain. In the end, only a little over half that number attended and the projected cost escalated to more than 750 million.

Despite Mr Blair’s alleged enthusiasm to keep the Dome open, he visited the attraction only twice: for the disastrous New Year’s Eve celebrations, and on 22 December, 2000, when he thanked the staff for their work.

Mr Blair apologised for the failure of the scheme in his party conference speech in October 2000, saying that with hindsight, the government would have acted differently.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and if I had my time again I would have listened to those who said governments shouldn’t try to run big visitor attractions," he said.