A giant effigy of Sir Keir Starmer has been revealed for a Kent town’s Bonfire Night celebrations.
The Prime Minister has been depicted as an 11-metre effigy holding a burning torch with a digital ID card tucked at his belt.
The effigy of the Prime Minister is also wearing a traditional hat, a frilly ruff usually associated with Guy Fawkes and flip-flops.
The giant visage will be the centrepiece of Edenbridge’s Bonfire Night celebrations on November 8 in Kent.
Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been poking fun at celebrities and politicians through the effigies since 1994, previously targeting Donald Trump, Liz Truss, Harvey Weinstein, Katie Hopkins and Sir Sadiq Khan.
Creators said the effigy has taken the tradition back to its roots after poking fun at ticket-selling platform Ticketmaster last year following public reaction to dynamic pricing over the Oasis tour.
Chairman of the Bonfire Society Bill Cummings said: “This decision is a great opportunity to remind everyone why we have Bonfire Night in the first place, a message that has perhaps been forgotten over more recent years.”
The Prime Minister’s effigy is holding a clipboard with “Suck up to Trump” written in big letters and policies such as the new “one in, one out” agreement with France crossed out.
The effigy of Sir Keir Starmer with the badge reading ‘Starmer the Farmer Harmer’ will be burnt
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Sir Keir has a local connection to the area as he was raised in nearby Oxted and is said to have played football at one of the local clubs in Edenbridge.
One of the creators of this year’s effigy Andrea Deans said: “We feel the public have chosen well this year when you look at how the current government is treating its citizens.
“There were so many elements we could include on the effigy, and it was interesting working out how these could be represented visually.”
Other contenders for the 2025 event included Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, Andrew Tate, Baroness Michelle Mone and Angela Rayner.
The effigy will be burnt this weekend
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Another effigy creator Reece Hook said: “Many of my friends are from the farming community and I know they will be delighted with who we have chosen this year.”
Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been celebrating Bonfire Night for nearly 100 years but began the tradition of burning giant effigies in the mid-1990s.
Sir Winston Churchill is one of several famous figures to have opened the Kent town’s Bonfire Night celebrations.
This year more than 500 people are expected to take part in the torchlit parade through Edenbridge High Street.
It comes as children’s burns specialists and firefighters have called on the public to stay safe around fireworks, with one nurse warning that injuries caused by fireworks and sparklers can be “life-changing”.
According to NHS figures, 46 people were taken to hospital with fireworks-related injuries over the four weeks around Bonfire Night last year.
Of those, more than two-fifths (41 per cent) needed specialist services such as plastic surgery or ophthalmology.
The figures show that around two-thirds (67 per cent) of injuries suffered last year were to the hand or wrist and just under a third (28 per cent) were to the head or neck.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) deputy assistant chief officer Kenny Barbour said “a little knowledge” of the risks can go a long way to keeping people safe.
He said: “Every year we witness people who have been injured by fireworks. Fireworks are explosives and people need to understand how dangerous they can be.
“We would always urge people to attend an organised public display where possible, but where they can’t, they should always read the Fireworks Code before buying or using fireworks.”