A bruised Boris Johnson has sought to quell criticism of his failure to make Big Ben bong for Brexit day by announcing details of Downing Street’s own celebrations.

A clock counting down to the moment Britain leaves the EU, at 11pm on 31 January, will be projected onto the outside of No 10, it was announced.

A light show will illuminate buildings around Whitehall, Union flags will be flown in Parliament Square and the delayed commemorative Brexit coin will finally come into circulation.

The package appeared to have been rushed out to try to calm protests from hardline Brexit supporters over the fiasco of the silencing of the world’s most famous clock.

Mr Johnson has been criticised after his proposal of crowdfunding the £500,000 bill for restoring Big Ben to working order for Brexit day backfired badly.

Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Show all 8 1 /8 Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Conservative party leader Boris Johnson drives a JCB through a fake wall POOL/AFP via Getty Images Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to JCB cab manufacturing centre in Uttoxeter, while on the General Election campaign trail. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 10, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Stefan Rousseau PA Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson drives a Union flag-themed JCB, with the words "Get Brexit Done" inside the digger bucket, through a fake wall emblazoned with the word "GRIDLOCK", during a general election campaign event at JCB construction company in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, on December 10, 2019. - Britain will go to the polls on December 12, 2019 to vote in a pre-Christmas general election. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / POOL / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) BEN STANSALL AFP via Getty Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Prime Minister Boris Johnson sits in a cab of a JCB during a visit to its cab manufacturing centre in Uttoxeter, while on the General Election campaign trail. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 10, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Stefan Rousseau PA Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative leader Boris Johnson drives a Union flag-themed JCB, with the words "Get Brexit Done" inside the digger bucket, through a fake wall emblazoned with the word "GRIDLOCK", during a general election campaign event at JCB construction company in Uttoxeter, Britain, December 10, 2019. Ben Stansall/AFP/Pool via REUTERS POOL REUTERS Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes A sign made for a visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to the JCB cab manufacturing centre in Uttoxeter, while on the General Election campaign trail. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday December 10, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire Stefan Rousseau PA Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson drives a Union flag-themed JCB, with the words "Get Brexit Done" inside the digger bucket, through a fake wall emblazoned with the word "GRIDLOCK", during a general election campaign event at JCB construction company in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, on December 10, 2019. - Britain will go to the polls on December 12, 2019 to vote in a pre-Christmas general election. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / POOL / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) BEN STANSALL AFP via Getty Bizarre: Boris Johnson drives 'Brexit' digger through boxes Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson reacts as he sits in the cab of a drives a Union flag-themed JCB, after driving through a fake wall emblazoned with the word "GRIDLOCK", during a general election campaign event at JCB construction company in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, on December 10, 2019. - Britain will go to the polls on December 12, 2019 to vote in a pre-Christmas general election. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / POOL / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) BEN STANSALL AFP via Getty

Supporters have raised more than £200,000 in just three days, but the plan has been stamped on by the parliamentary authorities who said they would not accept publicly raised money.

No 10 is now seeking to distance itself from the campaign, insisting it is a matter for MPs, despite the prime minister proposing it in the first place.

Downing Street declined to put a cost on its celebrations, but said they were intended to “heal divisions, re-unite communities and look forward”.

It is expected that broadcasters will be asked to replicate the sound of Big Ben ringing out to make up for the absence of the real thing.

Mr Johnson will be one of the first people to receive one of the newly-minted 50p pieces after the first batch had to be melted down when Brexit was delayed in October.

A special meeting of the Cabinet will be staged somewhere in the north of England on 31 January to emphasise the government’s pledge to “level up” the country.

Meanwhile, Brexiteers continued to rage over the Big Ben fiasco, with Tory MP Mark Francois revealing he had donated £1,000.

“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,” he said.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith insisted 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, and when we joined the EU,” he said.

“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.”