’Blue plaque’ in Walthamstow Tesco honors the lettuce that outlasted Liz Truss

04 October 2024 , 19:31

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The fake blue plaque mounted outside the Tesco in Walthamstow. Photograph: Martin Belam/The Guardian

Star of Daily Star’s web stunt given fake heritage mark after proving itself less perishable than Truss’s premiership

A fake blue plaque has been erected outside a Tesco in Walthamstow to commemorate the fact that the lettuce that famously outlasted Liz Truss’s premiership was bought there.

At the death of her 49 days as prime minister a wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig was declared the winner of a race to last longest as she lost her grip on power after her disastrous mini-budget, which led to her sacking the then chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng.

As it looked like her time in Downing Street was up, the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. After seven days it duly did.

In a further twist, the blue plaque added to the Tesco in east London was next to a huge promotional Tesco image for British cheese. Truss famously declared at a Conservative party conference in 2014 that it was a “disgrace” that the UK imported two-thirds of its cheese.

A blue plaque about Liz Truss and a lettuce at a Walthamstow Tesco. Photograph: Martin Belam/The Guardian

It is unlikely that the former MP, who lost her seat at the general election in July, will see the funny side. In August she abruptly left an event, saying it was “not funny” when a banner placed by campaign group Led by Donkeys descended behind her during an event to promote her book which had a picture of a lettuce and the slogan “I crashed the economy”.

It is not known if the Tesco store in Walthamstow stocks the Norfolk Peer, which Truss once said was her favourite potato.

Thomas Brown