MPs are set to review the ‘bonkers’ Big Ben plan after claiming they didn’t know the famous bell would be silenced for four years.

Three Parliamentary committees are said to have agreed on the work before it was given final approval by the House of Commons Commission, chaired by Speaker John Bercow.

But last night MPs insisted they had no idea they were signing off on a plan that would silence the Great Bell’s bongs for four years because of health and safety concerns.

They expressed anger at the length of time allocated to refurbish the Elizabeth Tower, which will silence the bells to protect workers from hearing damage, with Tory MP Nicholas Soames saying: ‘Tell those poor little darlings to put headphones on.’

Brexit Secretary David Davis also waded into the row, saying that stopping the chimes was ‘mad’ and urging the Parliamentary estate’s authorities to ‘just get on with it’.

In the face of the growing revolt, Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake, the spokesman for the Commons Commission, said he would ask for the plans to be reviewed. 

‘Following representations that have been made, I will ask the commission whether it will look again at whether more extended bell-ringing is an option that is both mechanically and financially viable.

‘Clearly there is a means of doing it (having the bells ring more often) because there is a commitment to ensuring the bells ring on New Year’s Eve. Mr Brake insisted that while the refurbishment plans had been brought before the commission, the specifics – such as Big Ben being silenced for four years – had not been discussed or signed off.

The plans to silence Big Ben, which has rung out reassuringly for more than 150 years, even during times of war, sparked an outcry when they were revealed on Monday. The £29 million, four-year facelift will repair cracked masonry in the Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben, while the clock mechanism will also be serviced. 

The bells will sound only on occasions such as New Year’s Eve and Remembrance Day.

The Parliamentary authorities said it would be ‘unacceptable’ to expose workers on scaffolding surrounding the tower to the noise of the chimes – and also ‘unacceptable’ for them to wear ear defenders. 

EU health and safety rules dictate that ear defenders can be used only as a last resort in the workplace.

But Mr Davis dismissed the health and safety concerns, telling LBC Radio: ‘I think it’s mad.

‘There’s a sort of rude phrase which I will shorten to “just get on with it”. When I was in business, it was my standard line – “just get on, just do it, don’t faff”.’

Mr Soames, the grandson of war-time prime minister Winston Churchill, added: ‘It is a tremendously defeatist decision in an age where the technology exists to recreate the sound of Big Ben completely authentically and on time.

Footage of the moment 12 people were killed by a falling tree during a religious festival on the Portuguese island of Madeira has emerged this afternoon.

At least 50 people were injured, including a baby in a pram, when the 200-year-old oak came down over dozens of revellers waiting to buy candles outside a church.

The incident took place at the Festa da Senhora do Monte, a festival celebrating the island's patron saint in Monte, a village near Madeira's capital Funchal.  

• At least twelve people dead and dozens injured at festival on Madeira
• Portuguese media reports more than 50 people injured, including a baby 
• A large tree fell down on a crowd outside a church after a mass.   Video filmed by a witness shows the crowd enjoying themselves before a large creaking noise can be heard, followed by moments of panic as the tree comes down, sending up a shower of dust and debris.
  Seconds later people - one man with a baby in his arms - could be seen sprinting for safety amid uncertainty at what had happened.
  Others who had loved ones near the spot where the tree came down could be seen running towards the scene of the tragedy.  The tree that came down is understood to be in an area where candles were being sold, meaning it was packed with people.  
  

  A witness who was selling candles near to the spot where the tree fell, told Portuguese TV station SIC: 'It felt like gunshots at first.

  'We just saw people trying to run away, jumping on top of others, and then the tree fell and I saw six people already lying motionless on the ground. It was something that will mark me for the rest of my life.

  'I only had time to run with all the panic. Some people were hit by others. It was terrible.  The local, who was not named, added: 'The procession was leaving the church and a lot of people were at the spot where the tree fell buying candles to follow the procession.
  

  'I would say hundreds of people were there.'

  Several people are said to have been taken to the island's Nelio Mendonca Hospital with 'fractures and head injuries.' 

  The traditional procession which forms part of the festival, held annually in celebration of the patron saint of Madeira -  Nossa Senhora do Monte - has been cancelled. 

  There is no information at this stage on the nationalities of the dead and injured, but the festival is known to attract an international crowd.

A married City trader has jumped to his death from the seventh floor of the London Stock Exchange today.

Witnesses have said the man, who has not been named but is described as a middle-aged Londoner landed in the lobby of the building, which has been screened off.

The finance worker is believed to work on the first floor but climbed up to the seventh floor at around 9.45am, clambered over a glass barrier and jumped.

Police were called at 9.58am and the man was pronounced dead at 10.10am - the Paternoster Square entrance of the LSE is shut and police and ambulance staff are at the scene.

Officers say his death is not suspicious and are desperately trying to contact his wife and family today. A fellow broker explained: 'I came in this morning and there was a screen up in the reception lobby area and ambulances and police.

'There was an internal memo saying there had been an incident and then we have found out that a man has jumped from the seventh floor.

'The building has walkways on each floor and near the lifts there is a gap and you can see all the way up and down.

'Apparently he jumped from there.'

A student, who was waiting in security, told the Evening Standard: 'My friends inside told me they heard a lot of shouting and then they heard a thud. It's awful.'

The financier is believed to have been working on the first floor before heading up to the seventh floor.

The man, believed to be London-based and middle aged, threw himself from an internal walkway.

A witness said: ''When he hit the floor it was terrifying'. His colleagues were said to be devastated this morning, with several having been sent home.

Police are desperately trying to contact the man's wife to inform her of the incident.  Workers said that the 7th floor was full of conference rooms and no firm was based there.

A City of London Police spokesman added: 'We were called to the London Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square on Tuesday, 15 August at 9.58am to a report of a man who had fallen from an upper floor in the building to the ground.

'London Ambulance Service attended and the man was pronounced dead at 10.10am.

'The City of London Police is currently investigating the circumstances around the death and the incident is being treated as non-suspicious.

'We are now working to inform the man's next of kin.' 

A London Stock Exchange Group spokesman added: 'We can confirm an incident this morning where a London Stock Exchange Group colleague fell from an upper floor balcony and died.

'The emergency services were called immediately and are dealing with the incident. We will continue to offer them every support and cooperation possible.

'Our thoughts and condolences are with the family and friends of our dear colleague.

At least 309 police officers and police community support officers in the UK have been convicted of offences in the last three years, figures show.

The offences that led to convictions include sex crimes, assaults and possessing indecent images of children. 

However, only 25 of the 45 forces gave figures to the Press Association after a Freedom of Information request.

A Home Office spokesman said measures had been introduced to improve standards of behaviour in the police.

The 20 forces that did not provide information either said they could not reveal the number of convictions because of the cost of retrieving the information, or did not respond to the request.

Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland were among those not to provide the information.

Separate figures obtained from 18 forces showed that there are at least 295 officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) with convictions who are currently serving with the police.

Police convictions: How did your force respond?

'Appropriate action' 

The Home Office spokesman said: "The vast majority of police officers in this country do their job honestly and with integrity. They put themselves in harm's way to protect the public. 

"But the good work of the majority threatens to be damaged by a continuing series of events and revelations relating to police conduct.

"Over the last two years the Home Office has introduced a programme of measures to improve standards of behaviour in the police, including making the disciplinary system more independent and transparent through introducing hearings in public, preventing officers resigning or retiring to avoid dismissal, and - from next year - introducing legally qualified, independent chairs on misconduct hearing panels."

Police forces did not tell the Press Association the names of officers who had been involved in crimes, saying that it would breach data protection laws to identify them. What the figures demonstrate is that, proportionately, the number of "rotten apples" in the police barrel is very small. 

You might expect that, given that police are meant to enforce the law rather than break it, but sometimes newspaper headlines suggest the opposite. 

However, the refusal of so many police forces to provide conviction data is more troubling. Surely it's in each constabulary's interest to keep tabs on employees with a criminal record - and surely it's in the public interest for us to know, for, as Home Secretary Theresa May has recently reminded us, the police are the public and the public are the police. 

The College of Policing has begun releasing details of the number of officers who leave the service for disciplinary reasons. Perhaps the College, the body which sets ethical standards for the service, should start collecting and publishing conviction data too. 

Among the forces to provide figures to the Press Association:

A factory worker now earns £5,000 a year from social media work after Kim Kardashian tweeted him four years ago.

Jerome Billingham packed laundry for a living when he tweeted Kim the innnocent tweet. 

He replied to one of her posts, saying: 'Do you notice your fans? I love you loads! #hotlove' to which she replied: 'Love you too!' Within a week, his 200 followers had surged by 20,000 and he now has more than half a million on his two Twitter accounts. His main account gets six million views a month.

Clothing companies began sending him free clothes at his family home in Louth, Lincolnshire, and dozens of other businesses begged him to promote their goods.

He estimates he now makes £5,000 a year tweeting about high street companies, such as Primark, to his 269,000 followers as well as promotional work for E4. 'I didn't think anything of it and was walking to work and then my phone just started going ping ping ping and going crazy.

'I thought: "What the hell's happened?" and actually wondered if there had been a technological fault with my phone but then I saw hundreds and thousands of replies saying: "Congratulations, well done son".

'Kim had tweeted me back saying: "Love you too". 

The social media star also has another account where he has 274,000 followers, meaning his total followers on the social media site is more than half a million followers. In addition to his clothing plugs, he gets into clubs and given alcohol for free for tweeting about them. 

Kim has a staggering 54 million followers and her single tweet to the starstruck man has allowed him to forge a new career.

Although he now works for Haven Holidays he soon hopes to concentrate full time on social media. 

His celebrity followers include boxer Tyson Fury, 29, and X Factor winner Sam Bailey, 40.

He got into Keeping Up With The Kardashians five years ago and has always fancied social media star Kim, 36.

He said: 'I have had so many people reach out and offer sponsorship.

'Lad Bible and Boohooman wanted me to work for them. 

'I did campaigns for E4's Tattoo Fixers, Primark's Christmas range, they'd sent me stuff and pay me almost £100 a tweet.

The Holborn Underground station has been evacuated after a 'loud bang' and smoke filled the platform today.

Witnesses described people running in fear after hearing the 'bang' around 9am at the central London tube station. 

The incident happened due to a 'faulty' Central Line train and emergency services were called to the scene.

An evacuation was ordered with a tannoy repeatedly stating: 'Would Inspector Sands please go to the operations room immediately' – the code phrase to alert staff that there is an emergency. 

It comes just four days after two people were taken to hospital following a fire on a train at Oxford Circus. 'All of a sudden everyone came running out saying 'they've evacuated the station'.

'You don't know if it's terrorist-related. You're just like 'oh my God, get out of here'. There was panic down there. People were screaming,' he said.

A member of staff outside the station said there had been a problem with a train and emergency services were investigating.

A spokesman for the London Fire Brigade told MailOnline that the incident was caused due to 'an overheated compressor underneath a carriage on the train'.

Two fire engines, a police van and an emergency response unit were parked outside the station. 

Passenger Sarah Marshall told The Telegraphs : 'There was smoke at one end of the station, a high pitched bang and a smell.

'Lots of people ran but others encouraged people to walk and situation was calm. I was towards back of crowd.' 

Nigel Holness, London Underground's Director of Network Operations said: 'At around 9.10am our staff were alerted to reports of smoke under a Central line train at Holborn. 

'Our staff immediately contacted the emergency services, who attended and investigated the incident. The cause of the smoke was a fault on one of our trains and it has now been taken out of service. 

'I apologise for the concern this would have caused our customers at Holborn this morning and for the disruption. The station reopened at around 10.05am and trains have been stopping there since.' 

The families of the 22 people killed in the Manchester Arena bombing are set to each receive £250,000 from money donated by the public.

Those bereaved have already been able to claim £70,000 from the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, set up in the wake of the attack at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22.

The charity's trustees have now announced they will be eligible for a further £180,000, which they should receive in the coming weeks. 

The latest round of payments from the fund will mean more than half of the £18m raised will have been distributed, including £3.5m to those injured in the atrocity.

Trustees of the fund, which has provided access to free financial counselling for the bereaved families, will next decide how and when to distribute the rest of the money. This is in contrast to the families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster. 

Only a portion of the £18.9million raised for survivors has been distributed so far, according to Charity Commission figures.  

Councillor Sue Murphy, chair of the trustees of the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund, said: 'The city and the world responded with such extreme kindness, generosity and solidarity in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack. 'Thanks to this we have raised more than £18m and we were conscious that we had to get some of swiftly this to those with immediate needs.

'We have therefore given a around third of the total to the bereaved families and £3.5m to those who were hospitalised after the attack.

'In total this means we have allocated over half of the existing money already. We will now spend some time looking at how we will distribute the rest of the funds.

'This will be a complex and sensitive process as we will need to assess the long-term impacts of the attack. We will issue an update as soon as we know more.'

Eleven people are still in hospital following the arena attack and the fund has yet to decide whether those injured should receive more money to cope with life-changing injuries.

Any payments from the We Love Manchester fund are separate from compensation from the government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. 

Ms Murphy said the Department for Work and Pensions had assured her anyone in receipt of money from the Manchester fund would not have their benefits cut.