You may recall that Great Britain elected Liz Truss to be Prime Minister in September 2022. It didn't last long.
A fake blue plaque has been erected outside a Tesco supermarket in Walthamstow in east London to commemorate the fact that the lettuce that famously outlasted Liz Truss’s premiership was bought there. Blue plaques are regularly placed on buildings by English Heritage to record the fact that a certain famous person lived there, but this unsanctioned one will, no doubt, be fairly swiftly removed by the authorities.
At the termination of her 49 days as prime minister a wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig was declared the winner of a tabloid newspaper's race to see if the lettuce or Truss would last longest after she lost her grip on power after her disastrous mini-budget.
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. Hilariously, 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.
Under normal circumstances, English Heritage's Blue Plaques Panel decides which candidates to pursue for blue plaques. The panel is made up of experts who meet three times a year to review nominations and create a shortlist. The process for getting a blue plaque is rigorous and can take two to three years. Except in Walthamstow.