By Glen Owen, Mail on Sunday Political Correspondent PUBLISHED: 17:17 EST, 28 December 2013 | UPDATED: 08:12 EST, 29 December 2013 Big Ben has been counted out of a New Year’s fireworks display this week – because the pyrotechnics mysteriously flopped 12 months ago. Showers of sparks exploding above the world-famous clock face were arranged by London Mayor Boris Johnson to welcome in the ‘Olympics Year’ in 2012 – and were considered so impressive that they were reinstalled last December. But in what has until now been a closely guarded secret, the £17,000 battery embarrassingly failed to detonate. The event was such a damp squib that MPs watching from the Commons terrace did not even realise that fireworks had been reinstalled.
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Showers of sparks were arranged by Boris Johnson to welcome in 2012
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Pyrotechnics so impressive they were reinstalled last December
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However, the £17,000 battery failed to detonate, and was secretly removed
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MPs watching from the Commons did not realise fireworks were reinstalled
A @placeholder insider said: ‘Last year they were due to be detonated on the stroke of midnight, but when the moment came and the button was pressed, nothing happened.