Smith admits Dome mistakes

Millennium Dome: The cause of a political storm

Culture Secretary Chris Smith has admitted the government "got it wrong" over visitor forecasts for the Millennium Dome.

Mr Smith, facing a fierce attack by the Conservatives on Monday over the handling of the Dome, said early forecasts of up to 30 million visitors had proved "seriously over-optimistic".

When the music stops the person still standing has to go

Lib Dem Norman Baker on Lord Falconer

Shadow culture secretary Peter Ainsworth used a Tory-led debate in the Commons to brand the saga a "sordid tale of expediency, vanity, half truths and evasions".

The criticisms come after a damning National Audit Office report on the Dome, which unveiled a catalogue of ill-taken decisions by ministers, civil servants and Dome executives.

'Human shield'

Documents leaked to the press at the weekend appeared to indicate many cabinet members had deep reservations about going ahead with the Dome.

In response to reports that Prime Minister Tony Blair forced the project through, the Tories used an Opposition Day debate in the House of Commons to focus on Mr Blair's role.

Chris Smith: Facing the criticism

Mr Ainsworth accused Mr Blair of using Dome Minister Lord Falconer as a "human shield" to protect himself in the government's "hall of shame" over the project.

Mr Smith responded by saying: "I think we all, on both sides of the House, have to put up our hands and admit we got it wrong.

"I am happy to do so. All of us, on both sides of the House, need to accept that there were things about this project, especially the visitor number projections, that we quite simply got wrong."

Mr Smith also defended Lord Falconer after Tory MP Roger Gale called for the peer, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson and the culture secretary to resign.

He said the decisions to build the Dome, its location and the role of the shareholder all occurred under the last government.

He added that Lord Falconer was doing a good job in the teeth of enormous difficulty and flak.

Some praise

Liberal Democrat spokesman Norman Baker also joined the calls for Lord Falconer to resign, and earlier called the Dome an "unmitigated disaster".

While he praised the building design and the fact the project had regenerated the Greenwich area, he said of Lord Falconer: "When the music stops the person still standing has to go."

Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick echoed Mr Baker's praise, saying the Dome had played a big part in moving the "centre of metropolitan gravity" to the east of the capital.

He added that demolishing the "triumph of engineering" would be an "act of vandalism".

Cabinet reservations

A leaked minute of a cabinet meeting appeared to show that a number of senior ministers, including Chancellor Gordon Brown and Education Secretary David Blunkett had advised against proceeding, according to The Mail on Sunday newspaper.

But Mr Blair is said to have told them the scheme had to go ahead and it appeared none of his ministers, even those with serious reservations, wished to contradict him.

The Mail on Sunday published the leak at the weekend, describing it as the first full record of a cabinet meeting. Such details are usually suppressed for 30 years under laws governing Whitehall secrets.

At the meeting, held in June 1997 - shortly after Labour came to power - Mr Blair is quoted as saying: "It is an important decision and we should proceed in principle."

The only alternative would be to write off "huge sums" of public money which had already been committed to the scheme, he is said to have added.