Editing Millennium Dome (section)

==Background to the Dome project==
The Dome project was conceived, originally on a somewhat smaller scale, under [[John Major]]'s [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Premiership of John Major|government]], as a [[Festival of Britain]] or [[World's Fair]]-type showcase to celebrate the [[third millennium]]. The incoming [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] [[Premiership of Tony Blair|government]] elected in 1997 under [[Tony Blair]] greatly expanded the size, scope and funding of the project,{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}<!--This article details the developments in funding but isn't a drop-in reference as it seems it was mostly Lottery money; the sentence should probably be rewritten https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/nov/09/dome.jondennis--> and construction began in June 1997.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/632785.stm|title=The Dome - from conception to birth|date=6 February 2000|access-date=13 March 2020|publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> It also significantly increased expectations of what would be delivered. Just before its opening Blair claimed the Dome would be "a triumph of confidence over cynicism, boldness over blandness, excellence over mediocrity".<ref>{{cite news
 | title = Dome woes haunt Blair
 | work = BBC News
 | date =15 February 2001
 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1172367.stm
 | access-date = 31 January 2007 }}</ref> In the words of [[BBC]] correspondent Robert Orchard, "the Dome was to be highlighted as a glittering [[New Labour]] achievement in the next election manifesto", but  criticised in the 2001 Conservative Party manifesto as  "banal, anonymous and rootless", and lacking "a sense of Britain's history or culture".<ref>http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/e01/man/con/manifesto_uk.pdf p.43</ref> Following the [[death of Diana, Princess of Wales]], a member of the Dome's board suggested the project be refashioned and extended "to accommodate, for example, a hospital, businesses, charities, private residences, and the whole thing named 'the Princess Diana Centre{{'"}}. The idea was later scrapped.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/bill-clinton-turned-down-tea-with-the-queen-five-things-we-learned-from-newly-declassified-papers-12359777|title=Bill Clinton turned down tea with the Queen: Five things we learned from newly declassified papers|work=Sky News|first=Connor|last=Sephton|date=20 July 2021|access-date=20 July 2021}}</ref>

Before its opening, the Dome was excoriated in [[Iain Sinclair]]'s diatribe, ''Sorry Meniscus – Excursions to the Millennium Dome'' (Profile Books: London 1999, {{ISBN|1-86197-179-6}}), which forecast the hype, the associated political posturing, and the eventual disillusion. The post-exhibition plan had been to convert the Dome into a European football stadium which would last for 25 years: [[Charlton Athletic F.C.|Charlton Athletic]] at one point considered a possible move but instead chose to redevelop their own stadium. Local team [[Fisher Athletic F.C.|Fisher Athletic]] were at one time interested in moving to the Dome, but they were considered to have too small a fan base to make this feasible. The Dome was planned to take over the functions performed by the [[London Arena]] after its closure. This is the function which [[The O2 Arena]] has now undertaken.