Legacy is also assuming that few of the 14,000 people who could work there will arrive by car because there is minimal parking space at the moment. Many internet firms expressed scepticism that firms would be interested in relocating there, saying the dome had "one hell of an image problem". City investors added that following the dot.com crash in March few internet companies could afford to move to the dome unless there was substantial investment in infrastructure, and incentives such as cut price leases for start-up companies.

Legacy said: "We want to deliver our project somewhere. We think the Dome is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity. But if we're not able to do it there we'd like to do it somewhere else... It was not an aggressive ultimatum, but it was an ultimatum all the same." Legacy has been given government assurances that there have been no negotiations with rival bidders since Dome Europe pulled out in September.

If Legacy withdraws, Pierre-Yves Gerbeau, has offered to buy it himself with commercial backing. There is a rival group who want to turn the Dome into a concert venue. Legacy wants to turn the Dome into a hi-tech business park and plans to create 14,000 jobs in three years.

Read the full story of the diamond heist here

The minutes show that ministers accurately predicted many of the problems. Ann Taylor, then Leader of the Commons, said "Northern families won't come because it is too expensive" (they're obviously too busy spending their money on fish and chips and wippets and ferrets - little does she know !! and these are the people who know the difference between mushy peas and advocado !!). Clare Short, International Development Secretary (soon to be 'reshuffled' out of place by George Galloway) said "This will be a political disaster. The whole of the West Midlands is very angry about the fiddled way it was decided not to go for the NEC and is deeply hostile. Street parties would be better". Ron Davies (mmmm...), then Welsh Secretary said "Even if we have no national monument for the Millennium, we could do an awful lot of good with this kind of money". Alistair Darling, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said "There's a danger we will have to bail it out". Robin Cook, Foreign Secretary, said "We can always blame the Tories if we stop now. If we go ahead, we will have to take the blame if the whole lot goes wrong".

Quite.

The Mail on Sunday has reproduced what it says is the first full record of a Cabinet meeting. At the meeting, held in June 1997, shortly after Labour came to power, Tony 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. According to the paper, Tony Blair then left the meeting to attend a memorial service, leaving his deputy, John Prescott, in the chair. A dozen cabinet ministers then objected to the project, but eventually decided to go ahead with it, even after admitting they could not blame the previous Conservative Government if it went wrong.

Gordon Brown is quoted as voicing a "series of worries" about the Dome, and the Education Secretary, David Blunkett, saying he was "deeply against" it. Chief Whip Ann Taylor suggested the money for the project could be spent on schools and hospitals instead, and the International Development secretary, Clare Short, warned of a "political disaster" (but not a flop!!). The report says the cabinet agreed that despite their misgivings, if Mr Blair backed the Dome, they should rubberstamp it. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook is quoted as saying "If Tony has made a decision, we'll all have to support it", before going on to speak of his own "grave" anxieties about the project.

Downing Street has refused to confirm whether the account of the meeting is accurate, or reveal if attempts would be made to find the source of the leak.

The Government has been told by Legacy that it has five days to agree to their proposals for the Millennium Dome. Robert Bourne, the millionaire Labour donor, wants to build a 'knowledge park' on the site and has said that, if a deal is not finalised by Friday, he will pull out. Sources said that there were 'financial issues' for Bourne to tackle before the Government would give the go-ahead for his plans for a British Silicon Valley. Officials still hope the £102 million Bourne deal will be given the green light this week, but said they needed a fall-back position. One admitted this was the Dome's 'crisis week'.

So in desperation, the Government is drawing up plans for a "dark Dome scenario" in which the Dome stands empty for a year in an attempt to save Ministers' from the embarrassment of having to demolish it. John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, has ordered English Partnerships to produce an emergency report about what to do with the Dome if Bourne's Legacy plan is dumped.

The leading option is to mothball it, allowing other bidders still interested in reopening the Dome to come forward. The site would be cleared, secured and left standing. Officials at the Millennium Commission said that there were other organisations they could talk to about buying the Dome, if Bourne abandons his bid. The second option would be to demolish the site and sell it as a business park, a route supported by some in the Government.

One senior source said that an argument between the two camps would be the 'mother of all battles'. Critics of knocking down the Dome say that it would cost up to £40 million and could leave the embarrassing spectacle of a half-completed demolition at the time of the general election, expected in May. The dark Dome option would be cheaper. Embarrasingly for him, Tony Blair has put his personal reputation on the line over the Dome, saying that it would be a monument to New Labour. John Prescott is concerned that getting rid of the structure would be a public relations disaster.

Well, it had to happen. The Guardian reports that the BBC is planning a fictional account of the Millennium Dome diamond snatch. The BBC's factual drama department has started work on a film of the foiled attempt to steal the Millennium Star. The crime itself drew comparisons with a sequence from the latest James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough. Researchers have already contacted journalists, police and others involved in the story. While the project is in its earliest stages of development - any programme could not be shown until after a trial, and eight men have just been charged - the BBC's director general, Greg Dyke, is said to be keen. A spokeswoman said: "Discussions are at a very early stage - it is just a gleam in the eye at the moment."

Nevertheless, the tale is ripe for dramatisation, and other broadcasters are also thought to be chasing it. Central to the film would be the role of the Flying Squad, which foiled the operation. The team was led by detective superintendent Jon Shatford, and some observers say some dramatic licence might have to be taken with his part. "He's more Inspector Morse than Denis Waterman," one said. However, John Thaw, who starred in the Sweeney as well as the later detective series, is on an exclusive contract with ITV. The obvious alternative would be Pete Postlethwaite, a current BBC favourite. The film could also provide work for Nick Berry, the former Heartbeat actor who is on a £3m exclusive deal with the BBC, but whose latest vehicle, Harbour Lights, was a disaster. Young and suave, he would be an ideal Mr Big. Ricky Tomlinson would be the crime gang's obligatory Scouser, perhaps commandeering the mechanical digger that smashed through the dome's exterior. PY Gerbeau, the Frenchman who runs the dome, must also have a prominent part - Gérard Depardieu could be in line. Questions remain over a role for Pierce Brosnan, who slid down the dome's roof in the dramatic opening sequence for the latest Bond movie. But while the BBC drama budget has received a huge boost under Mr Dyke, it is unlikely to extend to the fees of Hollywood stars.

Can't wait!

No sooner has the smoke cleared from yesterday's smoke bombs than the National Audit Office publishes its damning report into the management of the Dome. Read it in full here or read the highlights below.

The main points of the National Audit Office report into the Millennium Dome.