Prime Minister-1: Lettuce-0

British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ resignation on October 20 provided an unlikely victory to an iceberg lettuce, which was pitted against her by the tabloid Daily Star.  

Inspired by a comment made in an Economist article, which compared Truss to the shelf-life of a lettuce, the Daily Star started a livestream on October 14 titled “LIVE: Can Liz Truss outlast a lettuce?”, poking fun at Truss’s failing premiership in Britain.  

“People are upset,” said Andrew Gilpin, an editor for the Daily Star. “People are angry. But the good thing about Britain is we like to laugh at our problems, and that is where the lettuce came in.” 

The Daily Star’s social video editor, Edward Keeble, was tasked with controlling the livestream and babysitting the lettuce. He kept interest up by adding stick-on googly eyes, a blond wig, a mouth, drinks, and a supply of Greggs sausage rolls and positioned it next to a picture of Liz Truss. 

When Truss resigned, the British National Anthem “God Save the King” rang out on the livestream as a portrait of Truss was flipped down and the lettuce was given a plastic golden crown. The caption “The lettuce has outlasted Liz Truss” appeared on the screen. Later, a glass of prosecco and multiple other foods with googly eyes were featured, strobe lights were turned on, and other party tunes were played. 

“Credit where it’s due, the person tasked with getting the lettuce and babysitting it has really added on and kept the interest,” said the Daily Star’s deputy editor Jon Livesey. “Everything from the Saturday night disco lights to the ProPlus and the Irn-Bru.” 

The lettuce vs. Truss showdown gained worldwide attention and attracted bounds of viewers and comments on social media. It even gained its own Wikipedia page. 

When Truss resigned, many people took to Twitter to congratulate the lettuce and make fun of the ex-prime minister, turning her loss into memes. Even other politicians joined in on the fun. 

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, tweeted on October 20: “Bye, bye @trussliz, congrats to lettuce.” 

And as a grand finale, the lettuce appeared at Parliament. The Daily Star acquired a projector, got a picture of the lettuce, and shone it on the side of Westminster Palace. 

“And it’s the sort of final celebratory, the lettuce won,” said Gilpin. “And, you know, we thought we wanted to go out with a bang. And there it was.” 

The lettuce made a final statement reflecting on its victory against its opponent, Liz Truss. 

“I came into office at a time of great e-kale-nomic instability but after an unbe-leaf-able campaign, I am thrilled to have been crowned victorious in these chard times,” said the

s lettuce. “However, we must romaine cautious. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Cos many people might think I am a little green, but truly I believe that I could be this country’s little gem. I want to commend my opponent, her heart was in it Butterhead was not.”