Politics in 2000: Life in the Year of the Dome

Abstract

AN age, a year, a government can sometimes be caught by a single image that can become its metaphor. The year 2000 burst open the United Kingdom through the medium of a magnificent party to which many of the nation’s leading figures had been invited. They were to celebrate the new millennium in style in the Cathedral of the Third Way, or the Millennium Dome as it is more prosaically known, on the banks of the Thames. Although nothing was said officially, it seemed to have been generally accepted by Blair’s government that the Dome would somehow symbolise the new Britain, imaginative in concept, brilliant in design, a celebration of British achievements and—perhaps above all—commercially successful. It was to be an example of public/ private partnership, of well-targeted and tightly budgeted objectives. Risks would be taken, but they would be informed risks. Originally backed by Michael Heseltine and then strongly supported by Peter Mandelson, how could it fail? And yet from the beginning everything seemed to go wrong. The guests were kept queuing to get in, the famous cheek by jowl with the ordinary. The party itself, though deftly staged, somehow lacked continuity and substance. It did not hold the attention. It was a flop and a bad augury for the Dome’s future. But not the first. Within a month of Blair’s accession to office, an appraisal by Deloite and Touche raised serious concerns about the commercial and operational strategies of the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC). The target of twelve million visitors was regarded as unrealistic, commercial sponsorship was far short of expectation and, above all, nobody knew what would be exhibited inside. The government was not deflected by these concerns and approved a lottery grant of £449 million. Before the Dome opened, only six of the intended twenty-six sponsorship deals had been finalised and only £3.7 million had been taken in advanced ticket sales in comparison with the £18.9 million forecast. However, since this inauspicious opening NMEC secured four additional grants bringing total grant funding to £628 million, or approximately twenty new district hospitals. Despite this influx of funds, the Dome was advised by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in August that it was insolvent (and probably had been so from within two months of opening). When the Greenwich site had been selected in 1995, it had been anticipated that between 15 and 30 million would visit the Dome during its period of operation. By the end of September, paying visitors