Liz Truss lettuce facts for kids
On 14 October 2022, the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Star began a livestream of an iceberg lettuce next to a photograph of Liz Truss, the recently appointed prime minister of the United Kingdom. This followed an opinion piece in The Economist that compared the brevity of Truss's premiership to the shelf life of a lettuce, with the October 2022 United Kingdom government crisis occurring just weeks into her tenure and leading many commentators to opine that Truss's resignation would be imminent. She announced her resignation as prime minister on 20 October 2022, before the lettuce had wilted, leading the Daily Star to declare the lettuce's "victory" over Truss.
Contents
Background
Liz Truss became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 6 September 2022, following the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, replacing Boris Johnson. The September 2022 United Kingdom mini-budget was published on 23 September by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, which included tax cuts without matching spending cuts. The mini-budget triggered a massively negative market reaction, with the exchange rate of the pound sterling collapsing and pension funds coming close to bankruptcy.
After just over a month in office, Kwarteng was removed as Chancellor on 14 October, and Truss reversed most of the economic policies within the mini-budget. British media outlets ranging from the Daily Mail to The Guardian lambasted Truss's performance and the ensuing political chaos, with many observers believing that her resignation would be imminent. In an 11 October column, The Economist wrote that after deducting the ten-day mourning period for Queen Elizabeth II's death, Truss had caused economic and political turmoil after just seven days in power, comparing that time period to "the shelf-life of a lettuce" and dubbing her the "Iceberg Lady", contrasting with the "Iron Lady", a nickname for the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, a political idol of Truss's. The lettuce comparison was made by The Economist executive editor Andrew Palmer.
The lettuce
Denis Mann, deputy editor of the British entertainment-focused tabloid newspaper Daily Star, read the column in The Economist and on 14 October mentioned it to chief editor Jon Clark, who saw potential in the idea. Starting that day, the newspaper's video team started broadcasting a livestream of an iceberg lettuce next to a photograph of Truss, asking the audience whether Truss would be able to outlast the lettuce.
Daily Star hosted the livestream on YouTube with the title "LIVE: Can Liz Truss outlast a lettuce?". The outlet had been known to make light of contemporary political events, such as Brexit, while generally not adopting a particular political stance. The lettuce had been purchased from a Tesco store for £0.60 with an expected shelf-life of approximately ten days, and was physically hosted in the home of Edward Keeble, one of the newspaper's video editors. Within the first five hours of the stream, it had received over 50,000 likes, and over 350,000 viewers by the following day.
On 18 October 2022, the tabloid further ran a headline titled "Lettuce Liz on Leaf Support", a pun on "life support". As the livestream went on, a pair of googly eyes and a blonde wig were put on the lettuce, followed by fake feet and hands and glasses. Additionally, some crackers and a mug (labelled "Keep Calm and Carry On") were placed around the lettuce.
Before the lettuce had wilted, on 20 October, Truss announced her resignation as prime minister, becoming the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. At that moment, there were 12,000 viewers on the livestream, which soon shot up to 21,000. The British national anthem "God Save the King" began to play, the portrait of Truss on the table was flipped face down and a plastic golden crown was placed on top of the lettuce, with the Daily Star declaring the lettuce's "victory" over Truss. The music was later changed to "Celebration" by American band Kool & the Gang, with a Greggs sausage roll and a glass of prosecco also featured. While the lettuce had not rotted entirely, it did show signs of discolouration, with a column in The Atlantic commenting that it was still usable in a salad. By the evening of Truss's resignation, the livestream had received over 1.7 million viewers. That evening as well, an image of the lettuce was projected onto the Palace of Westminster, followed up by a Daily Star tweet stating that the lettuce "has made it to parliament".
Reactions
Prior to Truss's resignation
The comparison of Truss to the lettuce was received with humour by global media, with The Washington Post writing that Truss had become "the butt of quintessentially British jokes". The lettuce also became subject to betting, with bookmakers who had been previously contacted by Daily Star staff placing Truss's chances of survival past the lettuce as low; as of 17 October, a £9 bet at Ladbrokes of the lettuce lasting longer would yield a £13 payout.
Post-resignation
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After Truss's resignation, the Daily Star released on 20 October a headline titled "Lettuce wins as Liz Leafs", and on 21 October published a "historic souvenir edition" headlined "Lettuce rejoice". Bookmaker Paddy Power offered odds of 500-to-1 that the lettuce would become the next prime minister. The Daily Star featured the lettuce on Cameo, allowing users to receive a personalized message "by the lettuce" for £13, with part of the proceeds going to charity.
Labour Party MP Chris Bryant remarked during an appearance at Sky News that "the lettuce might as well be running the country", a statement echoed by The Atlantic journalist Helen Lewis. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev posted a tongue-in-cheek tweet congratulating the lettuce after Truss resigned. Several corporations such as Lidl and Deliveroo posted lettuce-related jokes capitalising on the livestream. In Truss's successor Rishi Sunak's first Prime Minister's Questions, Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer stated that Sunak lost the first leadership contest to Truss, who herself was "beaten by a lettuce".
Clark remarked in an interview that the staff at the Daily Star "have no plans to eat Lizzy Lettuce".
Similar actions
Also on 14 October, Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine began a similar livestream of a lettuce being compared to Truss's tenure. Multiple brands such as easyJet and Sekonda also ran advertising campaigns based around making fun of Truss's tenure.
