at the price they paid the british government for the whole lot. £1
Not true. The original deal was that BA (whilst still a public company) would pay the government 80% of Concorde's operating surplus for the airframes (in other words similar to an operating lease), and cutting a long story short, at around the privitisation of BA they also took on resposibility for the Concorde operation and bought out both the support costs and the 80% deal at a cost of over UK£16million (1984 values).
So yes, BA did pay for their Concordes, were responsible for managing the aircraft into a profitable operation against all odds at high risk and with much expense in man-hours and money. Also remember that no other airline was prepared to even try (witness all the cancelled orders which took the aircraft out of production). The gamble paid off. But what you must understand is that the undertaking of a Concorde operation is absolutely huge and very high cost. There is no way a Concorde could be kept flying for fun or nostalgia without the revenue on the line.
The "supporting hardware" involves hundreds of manufacturers and suppliers in many countries and millions of £ per year not to mention all the engineers - whose experience is irreplaceable and essential to even get a Concorde's engines running. BA's efforts have already given the UK an on-going SST operation against the odds now approaching its 3rd decade - it has no duty to bankrupt itself by trying to support a multi-million pound airshow after fleet retirement - whenever that may be.......