The report added, if the clock-hand were to fail, it could take up to a year to fix it due to the scaffolding needed.
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The clock will go quiet for four months – the longest stoppage in the ticker tower’s 156-year history.
There are not only structural problems – with the roof leaking, the clock housing badly corroded and large cracks in the masonry – but also faults with the clock’s hands and an imbalance with the pendulum that means it is struggling to keep good time.
The public purse is already facing an estimated £7 billion bill to restore the crumbling Palace of Westminster, or Houses of Parliament, but the problems affecting Big Ben are deemed more urgent.
A House of Commons spokeswoman said today: “A feasibility study and survey work has been carried out on the Elizabeth Tower in order to understand in detail the condition of the building fabric, the clock mechanism, and the building services”.
The warning was spelled out in a report to MPs which said there was a risk of “clock-hand failure”, adding: ‘It could stop – or worse’.
The report, seen by the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times, said: “There are major concerns that if this is not carried out…the clock mechanism is at risk of failure with the huge risk of global reputational damage for Parliament”.
If the £29 million “full refurbishment” were ratified, the clock would still have to stop for four months. The previous longest shutdown is thought to have been in 1976, when the clock stopped intermittently for 26 days over nine months while repairs were carried out.
A parliamentary spokesman said: “No decisions on works, timescales or costs have been agreed”.
A visitor centre and lift going up inside the tower is also suggested in the report.
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In August, Big Ben made headlines when the bongs lagged behind by six seconds, causing interruptions to BBC Radio 4, which broadcasts the sound live.
