The Big Ben clock before the start of major renovations in 2017. – Glyn KIRK / AFP
At UK, a new controversy came to replace
the Meghan and Harry case. Unsurprisingly, it concerns…
Brexit. A few days before the official exit from the European Union, some Britons are asking to ring Big Ben to mark the event. An idea that makes people cringe, even in the ranks of the Conservative party.
Silenced for two years, due to extensive restoration work, the most famous bell in the world, only rings on very rare occasions. And some Brexit supporters wanted it to mark the exit from the European Union on January 31 at 11 p.m.
50,000 pounds per stroke
Too expensive, rejected Tuesday the Parliament. The operation, given the current works, could cost up to 500,000 pounds (585,000 euros). Almost “50,000 pounds per stroke,” calculated the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle. A strong supporter of Brexit, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson declined to bury the idea, citing the possibility of a public subscription.
The idea quickly received support from conservative donors, who said they were ready to contribute to the collective effort, but also from newspapers like the Daily Express who hammered home front page: “Big Ben must sound for Brexit”. Downing Street put an end to this fleeting hope of the Brexiters by revealing on Thursday that Parliament was actually not allowed to launch a crowdfunding campaign.
Front page of this Daily Express this Wednesday. “Big Ben must ring for the #Brexit. ” pic.twitter.com/qq2YF8yc5N
– Alexander Seale (@AlexSeale) January 15, 2020
“Have you lost the ball?” “
In the ranks of pro-Brexit, the disappointment is strong. Conservative MP Mark François says it is “inconceivable” that this iconic bell should not ring for such a big event, which ends nearly half a century of an often conflicting marriage.
The government is “embarrassed by Brexit and is not proud of it”, for his part attacked Nigel Farage, figure in the campaign to leave the European Union in the 2016 referendum. Some Eurosceptic media accused supporters of staying in the European Union of inflating the cost estimate to ring Big Ben, noting that the bell had sounded to celebrate the New Year.
Just awesome pic.twitter.com/aSjXo3DXBP
– Simon Gosden. Esq. #fbpe ??????☠️ (@g_gosden) January 15, 2020
Far from being unanimous even among Brexit supporters, the fight to ring the bell cringes. “Have you lost the ball?” “, Headlines a viral parody of the front page of Daily Express, pointing the finger at those who “want to spend half a million to ring a bell” despite poverty and in full
climate crisis.
Everyone has a bell
Most conservative ministers have avoided speaking out on this matter, Steve Barclay, in charge of Brexit, having said that he “would not dare” to comment. Downing Street said it planned special events to mark this “historic moment”. But in private, some recognize the danger that any form of triumphalism would pose in a country still divided by the exit from the European Union.
“For many people, this will not be a moment of joy,” warned Scottish National Party MP Patrick Grady, whose party is resolutely pro-European. Faced with this refusal, the Eurosceptic group Leave EU asked that all the churches in the country sound on February 1, to “celebrate the new independence of the United Kingdom”.
But the representative body of the bell ringers “does not endorse the idea of [les] ring for political reasons, “said spokesman Vicki Chapman, adding, however, that it was” at the discretion “of each bell tower. Faced with this umpteenth snub, one commentator proposed that everyone bring their own bell at a planned D-Day rally in front of Parliament.
–
