Blair’s clash with sleaze watchdog... over free tickets to Millennium Dome
THE short-lived Millennium Dome project was mired in controversy from start to finish over the cost and content of the exhibition centre.
Even its opening night on New Year’s Eve 1999 – attended by the Queen and a host of VIPs – caused problems for prime minister Tony Blair, it is revealed today.
His office clashed with parliament’s sleaze watchdog over free tickets he received for family and friends.
Files released by the National Archives at Kew in London reveal barbed exchanges between No10 and Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Elizabeth Filkin over whether the freebie should be entered in the Register of Members’ Interests.
Mr Blair received the tickets for his wife Cherie, their children and other guests. Miss Filkin said in a letter they should be entered in the register.
Lord Falconer, then Cabinet Office minister, advised that Mr Blair should comply ‘because there is no point taking the risk’ but added their reply should ‘expose the absurdity of Filkin’s position’. He suggested they question if the ‘notional value of Mrs Blair’s attendance at a state banquet for a visiting dignitary exceeded £250 the PM would – if you follow Filkin’s logic – have to register her attendance’.
Mr Blair’s chief of staff Jonathan Powell duly did this in his reply to Miss Filkin – and received a pointed reply from her. Mr Powell then warned Mr Blair: ‘I think in future we will need to be very careful about things like rugby matches etc where there are free tickets for family members.’
The exchange began when Mr Powell sought clarification from Miss Filkin after it was suggested that MPs should register their attendance at the Dome for the New Year’s Eve 1999 event, depending on the number of tickets they had received.
Miss Filkin replied that as the cost of a single invitation and transport was £65, her advice was that if the member and two guests attended, the benefit was not registrable, but if more than two guests attended, it was. She said: ‘You tell me that the Prime Minister attended in his official capacity and performed official duties.
‘This being so, I cannot see that he would be criticised if he chose not to register the visit. However, if he was provided with invitations to the celebrations for four others or more as guests, I would advise him to register the benefits.’ Mr Powell replied, as per Lord Falconer’s advice, asking if there was a need to register a family member’s attendance at all official engagements, even a state banquet, if the notional value exceeds £250.
Miss Filkin replied that ‘hospitality by a prime minister or minister in their official capacity need not be registered and in my view this would also cover the prime minister’s wife in an official role’.
The issue of family members and guests at events such as the Dome celebration ‘is less clear cut as it could be argued that they are not there in any official role’. Mr Blair’s tickets, for four adults and five children, were added to the register of interests in May 2000.
The Dome cost about £800million and had been intended to showcase ‘Cool Britannia’. But the project, masterminded by then minister Peter Mandelson, was seen by critics as a prime example of New Labour spin. It closed after a year and was redeveloped into The O2 entertainment centre.
Some of the files released today are records of the Prime Minister’s Office, subject to a 20-year rule. Others are papers collected by Cabinet Secretaries, released
under different rules.