Big Ben Brexit bong blow as fundraisers admit defeat

Victoria Bell
Updated
Big Ben's clock face marks eleven o'clock, starting a two minute silence to honour Armistice Day, at the Palace of Westminster in London, Monday Nov. 11, 2019. Locations across the country are marking guns falling silent to end hostilities and end World War One, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
The Bong for Brexit campaign failed to persuade the House of Commons authorities to allow the bell to ring on January 31st, when Britain is scheduled to leave the EU. (AP)

Organisers of a campaign to pay for Big Ben to ring out to mark Brexit have admitted defeat, despite raising £272,770 for the cause.

The Bong for Brexit campaign led by Stand Up 4 Brexit and Tory MP Mark Francois on the GoFundMe website, failed to persuade the House of Commons authorities to allow the bell to ring on the 31 January, when Britain is scheduled to leave the EU.

The appeal fuelled by Boris Johnson’s suggestion that “we are working up a plan so people can bung a bob for a Big Ben bong”.

Mark Francois in Downing Street, London.
The Bong for Brexit campaign led by Stand Up 4 Brexit and Tory MP Mark Francois on the GoFundMe website. (Getty)

But the House of Commons Commission estimated that the cost of bringing the bell back into use in time for January 31 could be as much as £500,000, which some campaigners and officials say it is not worth the cost.

Last week, the commission said funding the cost through public donations would be an “unprecedented approach” – forcing the government to U-turn and abandon the campaign.

The fundraising drive was cancelled at noon on Monday, with the money raised now being donated to the Help for Heroes military charity.

A banner placed by anti Brexit campaigners outside Parliament in London, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The Big Ben bell of Britain's Parliament has been largely silent since 2017 while its iconic clock tower undergoes four-years of renovation. Brexit-backing lawmakers are campaigning for it to strike at the moment Britain leaves the European Union at 11 p.m. (2300GMT) on Jan. 31, but some campaigners and officials say it is not worth the cost, which has been estimated at around 500,000 pounds (dollars 650,000 US). ( (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A banner placed by anti Brexit campaigners outside Parliament last week appearing to criticise the campaign saying it is not worth the cost. (AP)

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Mr Francois said the campaign received more than 14,000 donations from 56 countries in under a fortnight.

“The response from the British people has been fantastic and we are deeply grateful to everyone who donated,” the former minister said.

“However, having made final attempts over the last several days to persuade the House of Commons authorities that Big Ben should chime, we regret to report that we have been unsuccessful and therefore we feel we can no longer ask people to donate.

“We officially closed the fund at noon today.”

He added that “even though Big Ben will regrettably not chime for Brexit” many people “will be celebrating the fact that we become a free country again” at 11pm on January 31.

That was “the greatest prize of all”, he said.

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