The lettuce wins: Liz Truss outlasted by vegetable in comedy stunt

Rotting vegetable became a metaphor for swift collapse of her authority

Liz Truss and a lettuce. PA/Getty Images

For Liz Truss, there was one final ignominy after her premiership came crashing down in six catastrophic weeks: she was outlasted by a lettuce.

Ms Truss has been in a race with the rotting vegetable since The Economist remarked on October 11 that her shelf life was proving shorter than that of a lettuce.

In a comedy stunt, the Daily Star made the metaphor into reality by setting up a live stream of a head of lettuce, decorated with a wig, next to a photo of Ms Truss.

“Will Liz Truss outlast this lettuce?,” was the strapline for seven days as Ms Truss's authority spectacularly collapsed.

After Ms Truss announced her resignation, her photo was placed face down, “God Save The King” rang out and the strapline read: “This lettuce outlasted Liz Truss”.

A plate of tofu was added to the table this week after former home secretary Suella Braverman launched a bizarre attack on the “tofu-eating wokerati” she said were behind climate protests.

The stunt provided some comic relief for Britons as they watched their government fall to pieces for the second time in the space of four months.

“The lettuce beat Liz for longevity,” said opposition Labour MP Stella Creasy, one of several politicians to join in the joke.

“Britain deserves so much better. We must have a general election now and give the public a say in how to fix this mess,” she said.

Former Conservative MP Alistair Burt also responded to the joke in good humour, saying: “I think we are very lucky to live in a country where the people live-stream a lettuce rather than march on Parliament.”

Liz Truss resigns — in pictures

The Economist's article was titled “The Iceberg Lady”, a parody of the “Iron Lady” moniker applied to Ms Truss's favourite predecessor, Margaret Thatcher.

Ms Truss's departure, expected in the next week once a new Tory leader is chosen, will make her the shortest serving prime minister in British history.

Appointed on September 6, she oversaw the mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II but never recovered from a disastrous mini-budget that alienated voters, MPs and investors.

The previous shortest-serving Prime Minister, George Canning, died in office in 1827 after 119 days in power.