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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Ben Mitchell

Liz Truss with a lettuce on her shoulder unveiled as bonfire effigy

PA Wire

The former prime minister Liz Truss with a laughing lettuce on her shoulder has been unveiled as the celebrity guy by the Edenbridge Bonfire Society.

The 11-metre-high effigy is clutching a cardboard box containing a leaver’s card and a copy of the Guinness Book of Records in reference to her record as the shortest serving PM.

It also contains a copy of her mini-budget, a Make Britain Great Again red cap, a t-shirt with the slogan “I am a fighter, not a quitter”, and a cheque for £115,000 in reference to the perpetual funding provided to ex-prime ministers.

The box itself has a big upside-down U with the words “This Way Up” the wrong way up and the words “Oh Dear Oh Dear Oh Dear Packaging Ltd” referencing the words of King Charles to Truss as she arrived to meet him.

The lettuce on her shoulder, which is crying with laughter, is referring to a livestream of a lettuce run by the Daily Star which suggested the vegetable would last longer than Truss did in office.

The Edenbridge guy has become a highlight of the bonfire season with previous public figures put for ridicule including John Bercow, Boris Johnson, Harvey Weistein, Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, both of the Blairs, Katie Price, Wayne Rooney, Lance Armstrong, Anne Robinson, and Saddam Hussein.

The society, a not-for-profit organisation which aims to raise more than £5,000 for local charities, has been in existence for more than 90 years and even featured on Pathe News clips dating back to the 1950s. Winston Churchill is one of several famous figures to have opened the Kent town’s bonfire night celebrations.

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