A wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig has been crowned the winner of a bizarre competition after outlasting Liz Truss’s tenuous grip on power. Seven days ago the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. To add to Truss’s humiliating resignation, the lettuce won. As Truss made her resignation statement, those viewing the video on YouTube soared to more than 20,000. When the prime minister confirmed her departure on Thursday lunchtime, a plastic gold crown was placed on the now browning leafy vegetable. The caption changed from “Day Seven: Will Liz Truss outlast his lettuce?” to “The Lettuce Outlasted Liz Truss”. The national anthem was played to mark the lettuce’s triumph, and champagne was poured. The lettuce was inundated with messages of congratulations, in a chat box beside the video. They included: “Lettuce Rejoice”, “Lettuce being having you”, “Lettuce for PM”, “Lettuce 1 Truss 0”, “Truss sunk by an iceberg”.
The Daily Star’s stunt was inspired by the Economist, which earlier this month quipped that Truss’s tenure in Downing Street threatened to be “roughly the shelf-life of a lettuce”. The lettuce-cam attracted global media attention as a symbol of the rapid disintegration of Truss’s government and the ridicule it faced. France’s News 24 asked: “What do British Prime Minister Liz Truss’s political mandate and a head of wilted lettuce have in common, you might ask? They both have an expiry date.” “Now Liz Truss even has to fight a head of lettuce in the fight for her political career,” the German tabloid Bild reported. The Washington Post said comparing Truss to a lettuce was “the butt of quintessentially British jokes”. The New York Times noted: “Lettuce can generally stay crisp for about seven to 10 days – though that’s typically the lifespan of refrigerated lettuce, not a head that’s been sitting out on a table and wearing a wig.” Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev was among those to congratulate the lettuce. Writing on Twitter he said: “Bye, bye @trussliz, congrats to lettuce.”
What else could Liz Truss have done in 45 days? Liz Truss spent only 45 days at 10 Downing Street, which equates to 1,080 hours. Here are some of the things she could have done rather than serve as Britain’s shortest-lived prime minister: Cook 9,257 hard-boiled eggs Listen 108 times to the Beatles’ entire back catalogue of 213 songs Watch nine full-length test cricket matches Binge watch all the episodes of the Crown on Netflix 38 times Travel back and forth along the Trans-Siberian Railway six and half times.