Should definitely have been sold to Branson, for which in itself would've netted BA a lovely profit for each one. At that time BA could've done with the cash so I really don't know why they didn't bite his hand off at the final offer of £5m each.
A lot of money was spent fitting liners to the fuel tanks and testing of one - I was fortunate enough to be at Brize for its arrival during this testing period and even more so for its departure - I was driving on the airfield and was held on the taxyway crossing runway 08. The lights changed to green and not one vehicle moved off, all eyes were watching this white swan soar into the air (amid a lot of smoke!), all hoping this would be a success and a certificate of airworthiness issed.
An often overseen reason for the scrapping was surely the most memorable events in living history, Sept 11th. That was the day of Concorde's first passenger flight since the previous year, the downturn in passengers for the next year or so made it less profitable. Couple that with Airbus ceasing maintenance, and politics (not Tories this time
) meant bye bye.