The PYRE minister! Former PM Liz Truss set to receive a warm reception in Kent as 36ft effigy of the ex-Tory leader to be burned at Bonfire night party
- Liz Truss left Downing Street after just 49 days in power having lost the confidence of the Tory Party
- The ex-PM was forced into a succession of highly embarrassing u-turns including scrapping her mini budget
- Despite her brief stint in Downing Street, the Edenbridge Bonfire Society named her as their celebrity effigy
- Ex-PM Boris Johnson, President Donald Trump, Saddam Hussein and Tony Blair have been previous effigies
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 36ft-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 who left office after 49 days.
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 Edenbridge Bonfire Society has created a 36ft high effigy of former Prime Minister Liz Truss as the guest of honour for their Bonfire Night celebration on Saturday
Liz Truss, who announced her intention to resign after just 44 days in Downing Street is seen carrying a box with a copy of her mini budget, the Guinness World Records 2022 as well her £115k-a-year payment for being a former Prime Minister
Artist Andrea Deans poses with the Liz Truss effigy which features Larry the Cat, who is now on his fifth Prime Minister and second monarch, having been brought into Downing Street by David Cameron
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.
A spokesperson for the Edenbrige Bonfire Society, who have been celebrating Bonfire Night for more than 90 years said: ‘As our tradition dictates, this is led by our bishop of the bonfire, his choirboys and the society’s effigies: Guy Fawkes, General Wolfe and Anne Boleyn, with her head tucked underneath her arm.’
The Edenbridge Bonfire Society is expecting several thousand people to attend the celebration on Saturday evening, although several local authorities have cancelled their Bonfire Night extravaganzas citing the ongoing cost of living crisis. In
Who are the past celebrity victims of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society?
Liz Truss has been unveiled as the celebrity victim of this year’s Edenbridge Bonfire Society event.
Hundreds of people cram into the narrow streets of the Kent town for the world-famous fireworks event, as one of the least popular public figures of the past 12 months meets a fiery end.
Here are some highlights of previous years.
Barry Stableford of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society in Kent puts the final touches to their celebrity guy, racing tipster John McCririck and former Tory minister Edwina Currie, in 2006
In 2007, the Edenbridge Bonfire Society nominated the wife of former PM and top Kings Counsel Cherie Blair as their celebrity guy
In 2009, the glamour model Jordan who is primarily known as Katie Price was burned on the pyre by Edenbridge Bonfire Society
In 2010, the Edenbridge Bonfire Society cruelly mocked former England striker Wayne Rooney for his looks, comparing him to Shrek
In 2011, the then Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli was nominated after it emerged he had lit fireworks inside his house
In 2012, cycling legend Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace featured in Elmbridge, whose effigy was sporting a Jim’ll Fix It badge
In 2013, former Apprentice candidate Katie Hopkins appeared on the bonfire as a result of her strong opinions
In 2014, the then President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso was put on the Elmbridge pyre
In 2015, the Edenbridge Bonfire Society burned an effigy of the then FIFA president Sepp Blatter who was embroiled in misconduct allegations and later forced from office
In 2016, the incoming president of the US Donald Trump was burnt to a crisp along with the head of defeated democratic party hopeful Hillary Clinton
In 2017, Harvey Weinstein was set alight after his fall from grace and the rise of the Me Too movement
In 2018, Boris Johnson was burned along with his promise for £350m a week which was put on the side of his Brexit campaign bus two years earlier
In 2019, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow was set alight while carrying the heads of the then leaders of the Tory and Labour parties Boris Johnson, left, and Jeremy Corbyn, right
In 2022, Liz Truss was nominated by the Edenbridge Bonfire Society to join fellow ex-PMs Boris Johnson and Tony Blair on the pyre
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