Ex-British Premier abandons stage due to banner joke
Date
8/15/2024 7:19:35 AM
(MENAFN) On Tuesday, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss abruptly left a book launch event in Suffolk following a prank involving a remote-controlled banner. The event, which centered on the release of her new book, took a comical turn when activists unfurled a banner behind her featuring a large lettuce head with googly eyes. The banner also bore the phrase, “I crashed the economy,” a nod to the infamous challenge set by the British news outlet, the Daily Star.
Truss, who served as the United Kingdom's Prime Minister for just over a month in 2022, was at the event discussing her support for former United States President Donald Trump. As she expressed her belief that Trump should win the upcoming United States presidential election and commented on the struggles of the average American, the unexpected banner began to unfurl behind her.
The appearance of the lettuce-themed banner, which elicited laughter from some members of the audience, appeared to touch a nerve with Truss. The banner’s message humorously referenced the brief and tumultuous nature of her tenure, which ended after just 49 days amid significant backlash over a poorly received mini-budget that triggered an economic and political crisis in the United Kingdom.
Truss, visibly frustrated by the prank, responded by stating, “That’s not funny,” before removing her microphone and exiting the stage. The incident was captured on video and shared by the Led By Donkeys campaign group, which took responsibility for the stunt. The same group previously used a similar remote-controlled banner to target Nigel Farage, leader of Reform United Kingdom.
The prank was clearly a reference to a challenge by the Daily Star, which in October 2022 had humorously questioned whether Truss’s time in office could last longer than the shelf life of a head of iceberg lettuce. The lettuce ultimately outlasted Truss's premiership, making the prank particularly poignant and memorable.
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