Rishi Sunak Effigy Paraded At Lewes’ Bonfire Night

Effigies of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt were set ablaze Saturday as part of the East Sussex town of Lewes’ infamous Bonfire Night commemorations.

Thousands gathered to partake in a centuries-old tradition, where satire takes centre stage in the form of towering effigies,in a celebration commemorating the foiled Gunpowder Plot to kill King James I by Guy Fawkes and his fellow radicals in 1605.

It’s usually an effigy of Fawkes that are burnt on the bonfire, vilified over the treason plan, but in an act of pointed political commentary, effigies of Sunak and Hunt were met with boos from the gathered crowd as they were paraded through the cobbled streets.

Hunt was caricatured as a train conductor, with a sign reading “HS2 Last stop London” and “The North” strikingly crossed out, criticising the Conservative Party Conference announcement that the high speed train line project that was years in the planning would be scrapped, enraging northern voters.

In an annual barometer of public sentiment, each of the town’s seven bonfire societies have a history of producing novel effigies including prime ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair as well as international figureheads such as Russia President Vladimir Putin.

The annual event, famed for its historical pageantry and robust crowds, proceeded with the Lewes bonfire societies, parading through the streets. They carried torches and burning crosses, drummers setting the pace, leading up to the fiery climax where effigies were spectacularly consigned to the flames.