Even Big Ben won’t chime for Brexit
The battle for Big Ben’s bong on Brexit night has turned into a fiasco after it emerged that a six-figure sum donated by Brexiteers cannot be used to fund the chiming of Parliament’s Great Bell.
After Boris Johnson called on the public to “bung a bob” for Big Ben to sound the moment Britain left the EU, more than pounds 130,000 was raised on a Gofundme crowdfunding site.
But this week the House of Commons Commission, chaired by the Speaker, ruled that the money could not be used because of parliamentary regulations on financial donations.
It prompted an immediate blame game in Westminster, with Brexiteers pointing the finger at the Speaker and his Remainer-heavy committee.
However, the committee, which includes six MPS, blamed the prime minister for encouraging the public to donate without checking whether it was even possible to sound Big Ben, which is undergoing a restoration.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the EU will mark Brexit by lowering the Union flag in Brussels and making it an exhibit in the Museum of the European Union, funded partly by British taxpayers.
Thousands of pounds poured hourly into a crowdfunding website Thursday after it was launched by Mark Francois, the Leave-supporting MP, and the campaign group Standup4brexit.
Francois donated 1,000 pounds and by last night 8,300 people from 38 countries had chipped in. A quarter of the pounds 500,000 target was raised in just 24 hours but it all appeared to be in vain after the House of Commons Commission ruling.
The committee said any changes to the revenue of Parliament had to be cleared by the Commons, meaning a parliamentary vote would be needed.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, told The Daily Telegraph it was open to Johnson to table a motion on Monday ordering Big Ben to chime for Brexit.
He said: “The decision was taken in the commission. If somebody wants to change that decision, as I said from day one, this should be the will of the House because it is political.”
However, amid growing confusion, Downing Street sources said there was no guarantee that the work necessary to make Big Ben bong could be done in time, meaning the prime minister could not propose a vote that would encourage more people to donate.
The prime minister’s deputy official spokesman said: “This a matter for the House, which has indicated they would not accept the money were the public to fundraise for this. The PM’S focus is on the government’s plans to mark Jan. 31.” A No. 10 source added: “I don’t think we ever thought it would be as complex as the House of Commons authorities have since set out.”
Downing Street also indicated there was a problem with the prime minister endorsing a crowdfunding campaign if there was no assurance that the money could be returned to donors in the event it was not used for the intended purpose. Standup4brexit said the cash would be donated to Help For Heroes if Big Ben could not be made to chime.
Writing on The Telegraph website, Francois said it “would be completely illogical” for Johnson
to withdraw support for the fundraising campaign “as it was the prime minister that began it.” Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, added: “I beg the prime minister to step up and tell the Commission they’ve got this wrong and he and the government will overrule it unless they change their mind.”
The row started on Sunday when 60 Conservative MPS wrote to The Sunday Telegraph demanding the commission allow Big Ben to sound on Brexit night, but on Monday the Commission heard the cost of arranging that, originally thought to be pounds 120,000, had rocketed to pounds 500,000 as it would involve reinstating a floor underneath the bell that was removed after New Year’s Day, as well as reinstalling temporary equipment needed to make the bell sound. The commission said this would not be appropriate use of taxpayers’ money.
The next day Johnson, in his first interview since the election, urged Britons to raise the cash. “We are working up a plan so people can bung a bob for a Big Ben bong,” he told the BBC.
Jacob Rees-mogg, the leader of the Commons, told MPS yesterday: “One shouldn’t look gift horses in the mouth. If people wish to pay for things, I think that should be considered as part of their public spiritedness.”
Meanwhile Mark Berry, a reader in music at Royal Holloway University, was criticized for comparing the Brexit gathering in London to Kristallnacht, the 1938 Nazi attack on Jewish property.
Addressing Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, in an article on Twitter about the Jan. 31 event, he wrote: “Could you explain, please, why you have given provisional agreement to this re-enactment of Kristallnacht, @Sadiqkhan? Anyone can see that this is a pogrom waiting to happen. Please reconsider.”
I DON’T THINK WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SO COMPLEX.