Big Ben campaign to mark Brexit threatens to backfire for Boris Johnson

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With two weeks to go until Brexit Day, the utterly bizarre debate over whether and how Britain marks the big moment is becoming more heated.

As parliamentary authorities block Brexiter requests to allow Big Ben to chime at 11pm UK time on January 31, the official moment of departure from Brussels, Boris Johnson is under pressure to come up with a plan for nationwide celebrations.

The iconic bell tower at Westminster has been undergoing vital restoration work since August 2017 with the Great Bell out of action until 2021. Although it has been brought back for special one-offs such as New Year’s eve and Remembrance Sunday, parliament says the cost of suspending the work and bringing it back into action is £500,000.

On Tuesday Mr Johnson used an interview with the BBC to appeal to the public to raise the money needed, a position Downing Street has since rowed back from.

Nevertheless, by Friday lunchtime an online crowd funding campaign backed by the arch Brexiter MP Mark Francois had raised £164,000 from over 10,500 donors, more than a quarter of the sum required.

Even if the full sum were to be raised in time, ordering Big Ben to chime could dramatically backfire for Mr Johnson. Alternative ideas floated by MPs include funding for local councils to ensure the Union flag is flown from town halls.

But any move that looks triumphal will undermine his promise, made in his Conservative Party conference speech in October, to bring Leavers and Remainers together and unite the country.

What to do in Scotland and Northern Ireland? People there voted heavily to remain in the 2016 referendum and the issue is potentially incendiary. This week the Scotsman newspaper quoted the SNP foreign affairs spokesman Alyn Smith as saying: “The Tories have completely lost the plot. Boris Johnson is asking councils in Scotland to celebrate the fact that jobs and businesses in their local community will be wiped out thanks to Brexit.”

Pressed by political journalists this morning, a government spokesperson would only say: “The government will set out its plans to mark Brexit on 31st January as soon as we can.”

Critics of the government say the row is emblematic of Brexit.

“This is totally typical of the whole Brexit saga,” said David Edgerton from King’s College London and author of The Rise and Fall of the British Nation.

“It’s ridiculous. Yes it’s an important date. But what I think is even more important is that there is still no serious plan for what Brexit will be or what the future will look like.”

As my colleague, the FT’s political editor George Parker pointed out in this tweet on Thursday: “Only in Britain could you have a raging P1 debate about whether Big Ben should ‘bong’ for Brexit but virtually no comment on the fact the Treasury hasn’t produced an assessment of what the @BorisJohnson proposed trade deal would mean for jobs and prosperity.”

And if this week has shown one thing it is that the positions in Brussels and London on the upcoming trade talks are hardening. EU demands for Britain to maintain the level playing field on regulation have ramped up over the past few days.

With so much in flux, this may not be the moment to celebrate. Bill Morris, director of culture, ceremonies and education for the London 2012 Olympics, was responsible for developing the successful London opening and closing ceremonies.

“It doesn’t strike me that there is an obvious solution to how you involve the whole of the country in this,” said Mr Morris. “I think the only answer is to devolve it to individuals to mark it as they see fit,” he suggests.

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