The Millennium Dome Fiasco.
- Cabinet tells Blair to call off dome plan (18th June 1997).
- Dome Chief Executive becomes a 'Fat Cat' (26th June 1997).
- The Gallup Survey (8th September 1997).
- Dome cancels its £250m spectacle (24th December 1997).
A short Introduction to the
Millennium Dome.
£750 million proposal, which centres
on a huge dome on wasteland in south-east London.
Cabinet tells Blair to call off dome plan (18th June 1997). [top]
Tony Blair was coming under pressure from his Cabinet last night to drop the proposed Millennium Exhibition in Greenwich.
Senior ministers yesterday encouraged him to draw back from the project because they believe it would be dangerous for the Government to commit such a large sum to one thing.
Alistair Darling, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Chris Smith, the National Heritage Secretary, are understood to believe that the cost of the exhibition is not justified by the details they have so far.
The decision coincides with the publication today of a National Audit Office report into the nation's accounts which is expected to reveal a multi-billion pound hole in the Government's finances.
Dome Chief Executive becomes a
'Fat Cat' (26th June 1997). [top]
The package will further ignite the row over the £500,000 package
awarded to Jennie Page, chief executive of Millennium Central., the company
organising the Exhibition at Greenwich. Opposition MPs yesterday accused the Government of
"hypocrisy" over the "fat cat" contracts.
The Gallup Survey (8th
September 1997). [top]
Most people do not share the enthusiasm of the Prime Minister and Peter
Mandelson for the Millennium Dome, according to a Gallup survey.
Two-thirds believe that the dome will not be worth its estimated £750 million cost and, if it is built, fully three-quarters say they have no intention of going to see it.
Gallup began by reminding people that "Tony Blair has decided to spend £750 million on celebrating the Millennium with a huge dome at Greenwich". More than half the cost will be met by proceeds from the National Lottery, the rest by private sponsors and ticket sales.
Dome cancels its £250m spectacle (24th December 1997). [top]
A spectacular stage show planned as the centrepiece of the Millennium Exhibition has been cancelled as too costly.
The 40-minute show, About Time, which was to have been designed by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the impresario, and John Napier, the theatre designer, would have included more than 1,000 children in its cast.
It was due to be visitors' first sight of the exhibition at Greenwich in south-east London and required a drum auditorium four times the size of the Royal Albert Hall that would have seated 12,000 people. Estimates of the auditorium's cost, however, reached £250 million, almost a third of the entire Millennium Dome budget and it has been abandoned.