I HUNT THE GUILTY MEN

Justin Marozzi finds that the

Dome's progenitors are suddenly overwhelmed by modesty

WHERE are you then, all you politicians and business leaders who have spent a bil- lion quid of our money on the Millennium Dome? You promised this would be the `greatest show on earth', the mother of all domes, the People's Palace and other such absurdities. Where have you all disappeared to now it's turned out to be less of a mother and more of an unwanted-teenage-pregnan- cy of all domes? What are you hiding from? Arise and be counted, you miserable lot!

Let's start with Bob Ayling, the chief executive of British Airways and chairman of the New Millennium Experience Compa- ny responsible for running the Dome. Mr Ayling, whose airline is hardly flying high these days (once known as the world's most profitable airline, it's now on the verge of recording its first losses since privatisation) has apparently decided to lie low. Tty to get him on the line and you are left with the unavoidable impression that he has washed his hands of the whole Dome caboodle.

It's not going to be possible to talk to him this afternoon, I'm afraid,' his office tells me.

`I'm calling from The Spectator.' Awkward silence.

`Just bear with me a minute and I'll find out for you.'

His assistant puts me on hold.

`Hello, I'm putting you through now.'

Wow. I'm through already. And then another woman comes on to the line, interrupting these happy thoughts.

`I'm sorry. He's out at the moment. I'll put you through to another number.'

Damn. Enter Louise Evans, a combative BA press officer.

`He's not around today,' is her chilly opening gambit.

Will he be around later?'

`He's not available. You should speak to Graham Taylor at the New Millennium Experience Company.'

`Actually, I'd rather speak to Bob Ayling. Is he not available this afternoon or just generally?'

`Just generally.'

`Doesn't he think the public has a right to know about his involvement with the Dome?'

`He's said all he wants to.'

`So he's decided to keep his head well `Decommission those arms or I'll fill you full of lead.' and truly below the parapet then?'

`Why don't you call Graham?'

The conversation ends there. It later turns out that Mr Ayling is out of the country.

Is there anyone else prepared to stand up for the Greenwich carbuncle? Roundly excoriated by the press for its underwhelm- ing content, steep ticket prices, serpentine queues, sponge-like .absorption of govern- ment money and attendance figures that make its target of 12 million visitors look as realistic as the chances of England winning a cricket series, the Dome is proving rather less than 'the greatest show on earth' we were promised. Who will take responsibility?

Will Graham be able to shed some light on the fiasco? Will he be able to finger the men and women responsible for the mess? Will he connect me to Monsieur Pierre- Yves (`call me PY') Gerbeau, the French rollercoaster mechanic now running the show on a salary of £100,000 (plus bonus of £100,000)? Fat chance. Graham turns out to be just another tight-lipped NMEC spokesman. 'We're in the run-up to announcing new plans and how to attract more people to the Dome,' is all he'll say. TY is not giving interviews.'

I'm not making much progress, really. Rathei like the Dome, in fact. There's no joy, either, with Jennie Page, the ousted chief executive of NMEC.

`She's not talking to anyone,' says Cherie Williams, PA to the chief executive.

`Do you know why she's not talking?'

`She's just not.'

Ms Page's particularly juicy severance pay-off of £125,000 may have something to do with her silence. There are those who think she is keeping her powder dry until her next appearance before the Commons culture select committee. Not that she ever told it very much, according to David Faber, a Conservative member of the com- mittee. 'What I dislike most is that when we had Ayling and Page, Mandelson, Fal- coner and Michael Grade in front of us we were patted on the head metaphorically like schoolboys and told that everything was all right, they were the professionals and we were just laymen with no expertise in financing, marketing and design,' he says. 'But that's the whole point of parlia- mentary accountability. What on earth are we there for if not to ask what is going on?'

Next up is Lord Falconer, Tony's-crony- turned-Dome-minister. Surely he'll be able to spill the beans? He might blame it all on the Tories, perhaps, or take a swing at the carping British press. Alas, no. For some reason, no one's answering the phone in his office. Over to the government's millenni- um unit in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.

`Who's guilty?' I ask Sharon Creary, a departmental spokesperson.

`I've only been in the job for a week, so I don't know who's guilty,' she replies with refreshing candour.

`Can I speak to Lord Falconer?'

`That's probably going to be unlikely.' `But he's responsible for the Dome.'

`I know he's responsible for the Dome, but basically NMEC is responsible for run- ning it.'

`So he's running scared?'

`I wouldn't say he's running scared, but I think your questions should be directed to the NMEC.'

`The NMEC won't tell me anything.'

`Lord Falconer has said all he has to say.' `How about Chris Smith?'

The Culture Secretary is not giving interviews either, Ms Creary tells me.

Bob Ayling, Jennie Page, Lord Falconer and Chris Smith are not alone. In fact, it seems most of the people once so happy to promote the Dome have lost their voices. Peter Mandelson would rather not com- ment. The Northern Ireland Office refers me back to the NMEC and reminds me that its minister is no longer responsible for the project. Early Dome devotees like the former Tory heritage secretaries Stephen Dorrell and Peter Brooke are also unavailable for comment, though Mr Dor- rell is later spotted and cornered in a restaurant by a Spectator reporter. 'My fin- gerprints aren't on it,' he pleads. 'I was responsible only for the early stages.' Asked whether the Dome was conceived on his watch, he says, 'I don't think so. That's my line and I'm sticking to it.'

Yet more taciturn is Michael Heseltine, who two years ago was assuring us we need not worry about the trifling sum of £758 million being spent on it.

`Much, much more important is the sym- bolism of this country turning the millenni- um proud of its past and confident in its future,' he said airily at the time. Quite how this would be possible under a gov- ernment for which British history began on 2 May 1997, Mr Heseltine did not make clear. Tarzan has gone to ground. Repeat- ed calls to his office are to no avail. Even- tually, his secretary tells me he is having 'a series-of-meetings sort of day' and is unlikely to be free to talk.

Virginia Bottomley, another former Conservative heritage secretary and chair of the Millennium Commission from 1995 until the 1997 election, is made of sterner stuff. She blames the mess on New Labour's abrupt volte-face. 'Nine months before the election, New Labour embarked on a comprehensive rubbishing of the project, led by Peter Mandelson,' she says. 'In opposition, they behaved in a deplorable way and in so doing soured the sponsorship, undermined the biparti- san approach and delayed the timetable.' Ms Bottomley makes no excuses for the concept of the Dome but regrets that 'the imagery and ideology have become too politicised' by Tony Blair's government. `There is scant time for Christianity and no room for British history,' she says. 'It seems that nationalism has acquired such a bad name for itself that patriotism has been sent down the drain as well,' she adds. The Times columnist and millennium commissioner Simon Jenkins is another of that rare breed not running for cover. (Is it a coincidence that only the people without real power and responsibility are prepared to talk?) Mr Jenkins remains a loyal defend- er of the Dome. His view is that the debacle on Millennium Eve, when thousands, including impatient media grandees, were kept waiting at Stratford for four hours, has poisoned the press against the project.

`One of the reasons the Dome is so unpopular with the press is that the public love it and they've been told by the press not to,' he argues. 'I think the Dome is an extraordinary phenomenon of the mis- match between critical opinion and public behaviour. The parallel with the Festival of Britain is astonishingly precise. Everyone ridiculed it, everyone went, and everyone looked back on it with nostalgia.' Mr Jenk- ins points out that with daily attendance figures of about 10,000 the Dome is attracting two or three times the number of visitors to any other tourist attraction in Britain. The difference, of course, is that none of them costs £758 million. And even with these figures, the target of 12 million visitors — or 10 million to break even looks hopelessly optimistic. On 21 February, the Commons will be debating the Dome. 'I shall be lambasting the government for not coming to the Commons of its own volition and for hav- ing to have an opposition motion tabled to get them to the Despatch Box,' says Nor- man Baker, the Liberal Democrat Dome spokesman. He blames Peter Mandelson and the 'Islington Mafia' for the present mess. 'The government is now washing its hands of the project, Bob Ayling is wash- ing his hands, Gerbeau is not saying much and Jennie Page has gone. It's like trying to pin down a blancmange.'

Peter Ainsworth, the shadow culture sec- retary, is also baying for blood. 'There is a lack of accountability and unwillingness to shoulder responsibility in a frank and open way,' he thunders. 'Bob Ayling has got away with clean hands, Janet Anderson [junior minister at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport] has a watching brief but no real responsibility, and Falconer's impos- sible to get hold of. There has been a clan- destine quality to the PR for this project for two years. It's a complete disaster.'

The rollercoaster mechanic from Dis- neyland Paris may find he has a lot more than broken rides to worry about in his new job. 'I have millions of ideas, every- thing can be changed,' he said shortly after his appointment, The question is: where on earth to begin? If he took full responsi- bility for the Dome, as Blair, Heseltine, Mandelson, Ayling et al. have signally failed to do, he would at least be starting off on the right lines.

Justin Marozzi is contributing editor of The Spectator.