'Lettuce all pray for Liz Truss' - PM loses to vegetable in Daily Star stunt
The lettuce, while not in prime condition, managed to endure longer than Liz Truss - who will be the UK's shortest-serving prime minister ever.
Friday 21 October 2022 07:48, UK
A 60p lettuce has beaten Liz Truss in a newspaper stunt to see which would last the longest.
The Daily Star began on 14 October as the prime minister's grip on power came under threat following the disastrous mini-budget.
"Will Liz Truss still be prime minister within the 10-day shelf-life of a lettuce?" the tabloid asked.
The vegetable - adorned with stick-on eyes - was displayed on YouTube 24/7 next to a portrait of the PM, and the paper also featured it several times on its newspaper front page.
'Serious' news organisations around the world, such as The Washington Post, covered the irreverent stunt as pressure on the PM grew.
The idea was inspired by a column in The Economist which called Ms Truss an "iceberg lady" with the "shelf life of a lettuce".
After Ms Truss's resignation, the live stream showed the lettuce still going strong with a Truss-style wig and beaming smile among a selection of booze bottles and disco lights.
"Lettuce wins as Liz Leafs," proclaimed the Daily Star's headline.
Twitter users celebrated the victory on Thursday afternoon - and delighted in a deluge of puns.
"In lettuce we Truss," tweeted @BahMaring. "Beaten by a lettuce, will Liz Truss be inclined to turn over a new leaf?" said @murrapa.
"Lettuce all pray for Liz Truss," wrote @SATIRE_of_SEVS.
@Deepak Shenoy posted: "Did Liz Truss outlast the vegetable? Lettuce, no."
"The lettuce won fair and square, and is now our official prime minister," said @russswan.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev also couldn't resist taking a swipe, posting: "Bye, bye @trussliz, congrats to lettuce."
One user did offer some consolation however, tweeting: "Sure Liz Truss couldn't outlast lettuce, but she did govern for three generations of fruit flies."