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EDENBRIDGE: A giant effigy of former UK prime minister Liz Truss, who quit after a disastrous 49 days in power, will be torched on Britain’s Bonfire Night, organisers revealed Wednesday.
The 33-foot (10-metre) tall caricature will be set ablaze on Saturday in the town of Edenbridge, Kent, southeast England, with more than 10,000 people expected to attend.
Truss became Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister when she left Downing Street on October 25 after her maiden budget announcement sent markets spiralling.
Artist Andrea Deans depicts her alongside Larry the Cat, the Downing Street feline who has now seen off four prime ministers, with a lettuce, which outlasted the leader in a tabloid newspaper stunt, perched on her shoulder.
The caricature is holding a box of possessions associated with Truss’s short but eventful time in office.
Britain’s Guy Fawkes or Bonfire Night marks the foiling of a plot by Catholic conspirators to blow up Protestant king James I and the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder on November 5, 1605.
It is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks displays either on November 5 or the nearest weekend, with effigies or “guys” of the plotter Fawkes burned.
Edenbridge has poked fun at famous figures for more than 20 years, torching effigies of them alongside the traditional Guy Fawkes.
An effigy of Truss’s predecessor Boris Johnson went up in flames in 2018, while in 2016 it was a caricature of US president Donald Trump.
Previous targets have included cyclist Lance Armstrong, footballer Wayne Rooney, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and British prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2022
