THIS WEEK IN 1998: Pointing the finger of blame at the City Council's '˜guilty men'Â

 Portsmouth City Council chiefs came under pressure to step away from the millenium tower project amid calls for an investigation.

Mike Hancock, who was Portsmouth South MP, firmly pointed the finger of blame at the council and said they should take full responsibility for the '˜fiasco'.

Mr Hancock said: '˜I am very, very unhappy.

'˜The credibility of Portsmouth is being dragged down by the incompetence that has been shown by the administration and leadership of the council.

'˜To go out to the public and ask them to comment on the design when they did not know if it would be developed '“  it is a con.'

Council chiefs had just two weeks to fill a  £7m gap in funding for the 500ft tower.

Discussions to reduce the size of the tower by 100ft, which would cut the cost by £2m, were under way with council chiefs but did not make any progress.

However, the Spinnaker Tower stands today at 558ft, sponsored by Emirates.

The £19m structure ran into difficulties when developers cut their financial contribution from £10m to £3m after an estimate slashed the projected visitor numbers by half.