Big Ben to fall silent for Thatcher’s funeral

The chimes of Big Ben are to be officially silenced for the first time in nearly half a century to mark tomorrow’s funeral of Margaret Thatcher.

The move intensified controversy over the lavish ceremony as the honour has not been granted since the state funeral of wartime leader Winston Churchill in 1965.

Critics of the scale of Britain’s national farewell to Thatcher said the decision proved the event was a de-facto state occasion, despite Conservative prime minister David Cameron claiming it was not on that level.

Protesters insisted they would greet the funeral procession along the Strand to St Paul’s Cathedral by turning their backs on the coffin, which is to be carried on a gun carriage.

Demonstration organiser Rebecca Lush Blum said police had assured her she will not be arrested. “I’m outraged that when we do not have enough money for the NHS we can find £10m [€11.7m] for the funeral of a deeply, deeply divisive figure in order to try and boost support for the Conservative Party,” she said.

“We need to show the world that Britain is not united in grief. I will turn my back when the coffin passes me in a dignified protest.

“The police said they would accommodate peaceful protest. They said I would be allowed to do this and I hope others join me — and hundreds have said that they will.”

Thatcher’s coffin will remain overnight in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster before being taken by hearse to the RAF chapel at the Church of St Clement Danes in Aldwych tomorrow morning, where it will be placed on the gun carriage drawn by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, and the procession will begin to St Paul’s.

That most public part of the ceremony, led by the band of the royal marines, is timed to last 19 minutes and expected to be the focal point for protests.

Much of the cost of the funeral will go on a massive security operation that will see many key routes in London closed, along with a number of Thames bridges.

As well as threats of disruption from anarchist groups, security services have also expressed concern about attempts by dissident republican elements to target the ceremony.

A dress rehearsal for the event took place at dawn yesterday and saw some 700 military personnel take part.

Queen Elizabeth will break with tradition to attend the funeral of a former prime minister for the first time since Churchill, and lead the 2,000 mourners invited to attend the service.

An opinion poll for The Guardian showed that the wall-to-wall, largely sympathetic coverage of Thatcher’s legacy in the British media has not resulted in a boost for the Tory party, which remains at 32% — six points behind Labour. Asked how people would vote if a younger Thatcher still led the party, Conservative support leapt to 40% as UKIP voters returned to the fold.

Meanwhile, police in the North were on stand-by for trouble as Thatcher is buried. Extra PSNI resources are to be deployed in Derry following clashes between nationalist and unionist groups in the wake of the death.

North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds condemned as “sick” a group of Cliftonville soccer fans who celebrated the death of Thatcher by carrying a coffin with a witch’s hat on it through Belfast, prior to winning the IFA Premiership title.

The Falls Road in west Belfast has also been a site for anti-Thatcher parties.