Diana Dome

Blair eyed plan to make Millennium landmark a memorial to princess

- Ben Glaze

The Millennium Dome was briefly earmarked to become a tribute to Princess Diana, documents reveal.

And as plans for the landmark development caused a headache in the early months of Tony Blair’s New Labour government, there was even a suggestion that Diana’s death could be seen as an excuse to scrap the project.

The then-Prime Minister had concerns about the future of the Dome as soon as his government agreed to continue with the project conceived by his Tory predecessor, John Major.

In the middle of 1997, with under 1,000 days to go until it opened to the public in Greenwich, East London, to mark the Millennium, there were fears it might not be completed in time.

Insiders also believed it would fail to attract the eight million visitors required in 2000, and that the building would overheat in the summer.