The UK’s shortest-serving prime minister Liz Truss will have her effigy burnt on Saturday during the country’s traditional bonfire night …
The UK’s shortest-serving prime minister Liz Truss will have her effigy burnt on Saturday during the country’s traditional bonfire night celebrations.
Truss, who left office in October after just 44 days in power, has been chosen as the Edenbridge Bonfire Society’s Guy of the Year.
The bonfire night in Edenbridge, a small town in southern England, has become famous for poking fun at celebrities.
Truss’ giant effigy, about ten metres high, shows her startled face and a lettuce on her shoulder.
The cardboard box in her arms includes items symbolic of her time in office: her mini-budget, which caused a fiasco on the financial markets, a Guinness Book of Records to mark the brevity of her stint, and a Make Britain Great Again red hat.
The artists behind the figure to be set on fire also included the now-famous lettuce that managed to outlast her and Larry, the famous feline mascot of 10 Downing Street.
Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, marks the failed 1605 conspiracy by English Catholics led by Fawkes to kill the Protestant King James I and blow up the Parliament in London on 5 November.
It is celebrated on or near the date with bonfires and fireworks.
Edenbridge, which has celebrated Bonfire Night for some 90 years, has been known for the past two decades for burning effigies of celebrities in lieu of Guy Fawkes.
Some of the most familiar prominent figures lit in the Edenbridge bonfire include former PM Boris Johnson, US President Donald Trump, football superstar Wayne Rooney, and film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Due to COVID, this is the first time Edenbridge will hold a bonfire night since 2019.
