Effigy of Keir Starmer chosen for bonfire event

Edenbridge Bonfire Society said the effigy resembled Guy Fawkes because "Starmer is doing quite well at igniting Parliament by himself at the moment"

Sir Keir Starmer has been unveiled as this year's effigy for Edenbridge Bonfire Society's annual celebration.

The society said the prime minister was chosen for its celebration on Saturday as he received more votes than other figures.

The group has been "poking fun at infamous celebrities" for more than 30 years, with previous targets including Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, plus Ticketmaster and the Gallagher brothers.

The prime minister's office has been contacted for comment.

BBC South East was granted an exclusive preview to see the decision-making process and the procedure of crafting the effigy.

Firstly, the society put it to a public vote in which Sir Keir was among other contenders including Andrew Mountbatten Windsor and Angela Rayner.

Laura Lawrence, of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society, said: "The effigy this year for the first time actually has a Guy Fawkes ruff and he's wearing a hat because we feel that Starmer is doing quite well at igniting Parliament by himself at the moment."

She said sausages round his head represented when he accidentally said "sausages" instead of "hostages".

In a nod to the local farming community, she said he had a "Starmer the farmer harmer" badge because his decisions around inheritance tax had "left farmers in uproar".

Previous effigy targets include Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and the Gallagher brothers

Andrea Deans, the artist and co-chair of the Edenbridge Bonfire Society, has been creating the effigies since 2016.

She said: "I think the most challenging thing is the scale of it. It hasn't changed much over the past 10 years.

"It's the same concept, the same structure. What changes is the subjects and the elements we can put on."

She said it was "a little bit more controversial every year".

"It's harder to decide what is appropriate, what the backlash is going to be, that bit is quite hard," she added.

Chair of the bonfire society, Bill Cummings said: "We hold everyone to account and we'll burn anyone, no matter how important.

"We torched an effigy of Liz Truss a few years ago and the lettuce on her shoulder wouldn't light, so we now have someone bearing it at the very front of our procession."

The not-for-profit organisation has been celebrating Bonfire Night for nearly 100 years.

The 11m effigy of Sir Keir will take centre stage on Saturday, alongside a giant Guy Fawkes.