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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Jacob Phillips

Furious Liz Truss breaks silence on viral lettuce prank after storming off stage

Former prime minister Liz Truss has broken her silence after she stormed off stage at an event promoting her book where she was once again pranked with a lettuce.

Ms Truss, who lasted just 49 days in office, was speaking to a crowd in Suffolk on Tuesday when a banner with the vegetable and the words “I crashed the economy” was slowly lowered onto the stage by campaign group Led By Donkeys.

The politician has a rocky history with the salad leaves after the Daily Star newspaper set up a live stream in October 2022 to see if the right-wing Tory’s premiership could outlast the shelf life of an iceberg lettuce.

The dishevelled lettuce outlasted the Tory prime minister’s government, which collapsed following a disastrous mini-budget that caused mortgages across the country to skyrocket.

Liz Truss stormed off stage after seeing the lettuce again (Led by Donkeys)

A furious Ms Truss wrote on X on Wednesday and 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?”

During the stunt, a remote control banner slowly appeared while Ms Truss praised Donald Trump.

In a video of the prank, she said: “I support Trump and I want him to win... It’s what I was saying about incumbents, I think the average American is not doing well.

“I think it was Bill Clinton’s adviser who said ‘it’s the economy stupid’, so I think that he will probably win.”

As the former Tory leader speaks the large banner can be seen appearing behind her, before she witnessed the stunt.

Ms Truss can be heard saying “that’s not funny” before she quickly gathered her things and left the stage.

The prank follows a number of similar stunts by Led By Donkeys.

Nigel Farage fell victim to a similar prank earlier this year when a remote-controlled banner with a picture of the Russian president appeared behind him. The banner read, “I heart Putin”.

Led By Donkeys, also recently created a beach artwork in front of the Blackpool Tower featuring Mr Farage’s face and the words: “Friend of Putin. Enemy of the NHS.”

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