Labour MP Stephen Pound defends Big Ben vigil as chimes ring for last time till 2021
4 min read
A Labour MP said "brightness has fallen from the air" today as Big Ben rang for the last time until 2021.
Stephen Pound was one of only a handful of MPs who gathered in Parliament's New Palace Yard to witness the iconic bell's final chimes for at least four years.
However, they were joined by several hundred other members of Commons staff and visitors to mark the occasion, while more than 1,000 people also gathered in Parliament Square.
As Big Ben peeled for the final time on the stroke of noon before falling silent, they burst into a spontaneous round of applause.
The decision to silence the clock until 2021 while renovations are carried out has met with criticism from the highest levels, with Theresa May saying it "can't be right".
A Parliament spokesman said there was a “serious risk” to workers’ hearing if they were subjected to “prolonged exposure” to the chimes during the lengthy work to repair the Elizabeth Tower.
Ealing North MP Mr Pound had come in for severe criticism from some of his parliamentary colleagues when he said they would be standing "with heads bowed and hope in our hearts" to mark the occasion.
Even some of Mr Pound's Labour colleagues criticised his stance.
And Tory MP Conor Burns - parliamentary aide to Boris Johnson - said: "There has been the most enormous amount of nonsense talked about this. Colleagues saying the House of Commons Commission is achieving something that even the Luftwaffe couldn't achieve, stopping Big Ben. Big Ben was silenced for maintenance in 2007, it was refurbished between '83 and '85, it blew up in 1976 and was offline for a little while.
"All I would say about it is I look forward to getting back to September and back down to business and I think when you see the footage of our colleagues who gather at the foot of Big Ben you will not see too many colleagues who have careers ahead of them."
But a defiant Mr Pound later told Sky News: "Brightness has fallen from the air, the sound has gone. Now it sounds like we’re sort of anthropomorphising something or being sentimental or silly, but it’s not.
"The news you’ve just given there, the horrors that are taking place in the world, actually in this country we can either pull the duvet over our heads and forget about them or we can cherish the stability of those things, the continuity that actually make our society, culture and community strong and safe. And the bells are a small part of that, but a part worth cherishing and keeping and I miss them already.
"There were 400 people there standing listening to the final sounds, and it was an elegiac moment. However you look at it, the bells seemed to sound louder as they got towards 12, almost as if they were saying goodbye. This is that great, glorious sound, rolling across Westminster and I think we are going to miss it. You don’t know what you’ve missed till its gone, and I think we’re going to miss it big time."
Mr Pound's parliamentary neighbour, Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq, was one of the few politicians who gathered for the final chimes.
She said: "I don't think it's a cause for national mourning. Worse things happen at sea - let's get a sense of perspective."
But Conservative MP Peter Bone - who was also in New Palace Yard to mark the occasion - told the BBC: "You cannot have urgent repairs that take four years, it just doesn’t make any sense, so what I think, is that the commission and the authorities will look at this in September, we need to find a different solution, and maybe Big Ben will be silenced for a little while but perhaps just to the end of this year and then back bonging away from the New Year, something like that.”
"If there is urgent work that needs to be done, it should be done quickly and pardon the pun, round the clock if necessary to get it done."
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