Big Ben silenced as Thatcher laid to rest

Bells last silenced for Churchill

LONDON The chimes of Big Ben are to be silenced for the first time in nearly a half-century Wednesday as Queen Elizabeth and 2,300 other dignitaries, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, attend Margaret Thatcher’s funeral.

The bells of Big Ben and the Great Clock of Westminster, which loom over the British Parliament, were last quieted in 1965 as a sign of respect during the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, who brought Britain back from the dark days of the Blitz.

The decision to still the iconic bells, which have normally chimed every quarter hour since they were installed early in Queen Victoria’s reign, was made by the Speaker of the British House of Commons, John Bercow, although his wife has announced that she will not attend Thatcher’s funeral to protest how the Iron Lady ruled Britain between 1979 and 1990.

Accompanying the prime minister for the service at St. Paul’s Cathedral will be his wife, Laureen, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Brian Mulroney, who was Canada’s prime minister for six of Thatcher’s 11 years in power.

“She was one of the people who rediscovered the importance of conservative economics and made it a force throughout the world leading to globalization,” Harper said of the former British PM.

“She had a profound commitment to freedom and democracy, including the end of communism in Eastern Europe and, finally, she was a landmark woman politician and an inspiration to all women in conservative parties across the world and certainly in Canada.”