Boris Johnson has unveiled the government’s plans to celebrate Brexit day – with no mention of Big Ben bonging.
Instead, there will be a clock projected on the prime minister’s own house and a light show in Whitehall that the public can watch on social media.
Other highlights include a cabinet day out to an unspecified location in the north of England. It is not known how much the celebrations will cost.
Commons authorities had initially ruled out bringing the out-of-action clock back into service in time for January 31 because it would have required £500,000 at short notice. The prime minister then poured fuel on the fire by suggesting the public might like to raise the money themselves – or, as he put it, “bung a bob for a Big Ben bong” – but seemingly without checking whether the Commons was actually allowed to accept public donations, which it turned out it wasn’t.
By the time that came to light, however, tens of thousands of pounds had been amassed by a now-directionless crowdfunding campaign. Bizarrely, donations continued to flood in – almost £250,000 had been raised as of Friday evening. It is believed the money will instead be donated to Help for Heroes.
In an attempt to bring down the temperature, Downing Street has now unveiled plans to project a countdown clock on to No.10 to mark the moment the UK leaves the EU at 11pm on January 31.
Buildings around Whitehall will be lit up as part of the light show that evening, and union flags will be flown on all the poles in Parliament Square.
The commemorative Brexit coin will come into circulation on exit day, and the PM is expected to be one of the first people to receive one of the newly-minted 50p pieces.
Johnson will chair a special meeting of his cabinet in the north of England on January 31, where ministers will discuss the government’s plans to spread prosperity and opportunity across the UK.
He will then make a special address to the nation in the evening, aimed at healing divisions and reuniting Remain and Leave communities.
But with Nigel Farage accusing Johnson of misleading the public over Big Ben, it remains to be seen whether this will be enough – even with plans to live stream the light show on social media.
The PM is also struggling to contain his own backbenchers, with arch-Brexiteer Mark Francois on Friday revealing that millionaire businessman Arron Banks and the Leave Means Leave campaign group having donated £50,000 towards the bid.
He told the BBC: “We are now not far short of £220,000, and by the end of the day we probably won’t be a million miles away from having raised half the total in two days.”
Tory former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said Big Ben rings on all the “big occasions”.
“It sounded out the end of the war in Europe, it sounded out the end of the war in Japan, when we joined the EU... and as we leave, arguably the biggest decision we have made since the end of the war, then the bell I think should sound for that,” he told the BBC.
“If they’ve managed to make it sound for other things I don’t see why they can’t make it sound when we leave the EU.”
Meanwhile, the European Parliament confirmed that the union flag which flies above the building in Strasbourg will be lowered after Britain’s exit and sent to the House of European History.
A spokesperson said there would not be a flag-lowering ceremony, but the parliament’s president David Sassoli will host a farewell ceremony to members to mark the departure of British MEPs.