Liz Truss rages at lettuce banner and says prank ‘was not funny’

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Liz Truss has hit out on social media after a banner featuring a lettuce was unfurled behind her as part of a stunt by a campaign group, saying the prank was “not funny”.

She dubbed the group behind the prank, Led by Donkeys, “far left”, accusing them of attempting to “suppress free speech”.

The former prime minister, who lasted just 49 days in office, stormed off stage at an event in Suffolk on Tuesday after the banner, emblazoned with the vegetable and carrying the words “I crashed the economy”, was unveiled.

The stunt was a reference to the challenge set by the Daily Star newspaper in October 2022 to see if Ms Truss’s premiership could outlast the shelf life of a head of iceberg lettuce.

The salad leaves lasted longer than the Tory prime minister’s government, which collapsed in the wake of a largely unfunded mini-Budget which caused mortgages across the UK to skyrocket.

Responding on social media on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Truss said: “What happened last night was not funny. Far-left activists disrupted the event, which then had to be stopped for security reasons.

“This is done to intimidate people and suppress free speech. I won’t stand for it. Would we see the same reaction if the activists were far right?”

A video of the prank this week shows Ms Truss saying: “I support Trump and I want him to win ... But the, it’s what I was saying about incumbents, I think the average American is not doing well.”

Unaware of the banner behind her, the former prime minister continued: “I think it was Bill Clinton’s adviser who said ‘It’s the economy stupid’, so I think that he will probably win.”

Ms Truss appeared to be visibly irritated by the prank, saying “That’s not funny”, before collecting her belongings and leaving the stage.

Conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie, who was previously an adviser to Boris Johnson, warned: “Liz Truss would be well advised to learn to laugh at herself”.

Political campaign group Led by Donkeys claimed credit for the stunt, posting a video to social media with the caption: “Liz Truss is on a pro-Trump speaking tour. So we dropped a strategically positioned remote-controlled lettuce banner.”

The same group conducted a similar stunt earlier this year, disrupting a speech by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage using a remote-controlled banner with a picture of the Russian president which read, “I heart Putin”.