The new chief executive of the Millennium Dome, Mr David James, yesterday rejected a demand by the Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, that the project be closed down as the British government faced growing pressure to sack Lord Falconer, the minister responsible for running the attraction.
Launching a blistering attack on the financial management of the Dome, an attraction that he described as "an empty pointless tent in the middle of nowhere", Mr Hague demanded the removal of Lord Falconer. The Tory leader said an inquiry should be started into the project's financial operation.
The time had come to "turn off the tap" of public handouts, Mr Hague said, and money "wasted" on the Dome should be spent on good causes such as cancer research. The Millennium Commissioners caused outrage on Tuesday when they agreed to an emergency £47 million financial package for the Dome following an external review of its poor financial position. The review predicted that just over one-third - 4.5 million - of the predicted 12 million visitors would actually buy tickets for the Dome, and the latest injection of National Lottery money brings the total in handouts to the Dome to £628 million.
Mr Hague said Lord Falconer was appointed to his post only because he was once a flatmate of the Prime Minister, Mr Blair: "He is keeping his job today only because he was Tony Blair's flatmate. He has presided over a complete fiasco."
The Dome's chairman, the financial "troubleshooter" Mr James, insisted it would be "very wrong" to close the Dome because it would involve up to £40 million in extra costs, including defaults on 2,000 contracts and redundancy payouts.
As the government insisted it would be even more costly to close it, Lord Falconer defended his position: "I want to stick with the project, and seek to deliver the benefits that the project brings, namely regeneration, the industrialisation of that part of east London, 30,000 jobs."
Despite the increasingly bitter criticism of the Dome management, the Japanese consortium, Nomura, said it would be going ahead with its negotiations to buy the Dome site and its surrounding area for £105 million, even though it was revealed the contract had not been signed.
Last night the head of Britain's busiest tourist attraction, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, offered to save the Dome for a £4 million fee. The managing director, Mr Geoffrey Thompson, wrote to Mr Blair, saying he would be happy "to salvage at least some of the reputation of the Dome". Blackpool Pleasure Beach attracts seven million visitors each year.