DISABLED care home residents ruffled feathers at a town show by entering a grotesque dummy of Theresa May in the scarecrow competition.
The “Theresa Hay” scarecrow, complete with a gurning face, won second place in the Littlehampton Town Show in the true blue, Brexit-backing constituency of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.
The scarecrow was created by residents of St Bridget’s Care Home in the nearby West Sussex village of Rustington, which is run by the charity Leonard Cheshire.
The manager of the show today admitted the second-placed scarecrow had caused a stir and said he would have preferred to see a Jeremy Corbyn creation.
The constituency is a safe Tory seat and voted almost two-thirds in favour of Brexit, despite having a Remain MP.
What motivated the residents of St Bridget’s to satirise the Prime Minister remains unclear but the Conservatives remain deeply unpopular among many disabled people as a result of austerity measures taken by her predecessor.
“Theresa Hay” – a reference to the PM’s much-mocked revelation that her naughtiest moment was running through a wheat field – boasts long brown plaits, a straw hat and “countryside clothing”.
The Prime Minister is striking a pose similar to the one made famous by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.
The face – stuck to the paper mache head – is a very unflattering picture of the PM screwing up her face.
Wendy Rockliffe, activities coordinator for the home, told a local paper “it was just a bit of fun”.
She said: “We were surprised to come second but there were only four scarecrows in the competiton.
“We had it standing around the home for a while and it caused a bit of a stir and a laugh which was the main point of it.”
Asked if the PM had seen her scarecrow, Wendy replied: “Hopefully she has a sense of humour. She’s got to have a thick skin in her job.”
Deputy Manager for the care home, Jonathan Lelacheur, said: “We try to get our residents involved as much as we can.
“Most of our residents are profoundly disabled with multiple disabilities, so it’s important for us to get the message out there that no matter the disability, people can get involved.”
Show Manager, Alan Humphrey, admitted that he was not too chuffed with the Tory leader being used as the main focus, but did see the funny side.
He said: “I would have rather seen Jeremy Corbyn on a scarecrow, but all the scarecrows did seem to take a certain theme.
“It’s all a bit of fun although some people do take it rather seriously.
“We had more than 600 entries in the horticultural section overall with one scarecrow even made completely out of car parts.”
On social media, James Robson said: “Did she watch that video tape from The Ring before that photo was taken?”
Scott Vessey commented: “That’s given me an idea for November 5th. Or tonight. Yes, tonight.
Colin Boothroyd said: “ Only second. Presumably looks too normal….
Lynne Jones said: “Gorgeous!”
Last year, it was revealed that 33,000 care worker roles were cut during David Cameron’s tenure as PM.
It was also revealed that over the last eight years, £6.3bn has been cut from adult social care.
