Jose Manuel Barroso is new Edenbridge bonfire effigy

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An effigy of outgoing president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso is to be burnt as part of a Kent bonfire society's annual celebrations.

Mr Barroso was unveiled as Edenbridge's latest celebrity guy on Wednesday, following the likes of Katie Hopkins, Wayne Rooney and Saddam Hussein.

The society picked him because of the demand that the UK pays an extra £1.7bn towards the European Union's budget.

A 32ft (10m) high steel-framed model of Mr Barroso will be burnt on Saturday.

The effigy depicts the outgoing president with an invoice in his right hand and a bulldog with a union flag in its mouth under his left arm.

'No clear favourite'

Edenbridge Bonfire Society member Jon Mitchell said: "We do try very hard to pick somebody who's absolutely current in the news.

"We only made the decision on Tuesday of last week and we started building Jose on the Thursday."

"It was a difficult one to decide as there was no clear favourite.

"We eliminated people one by one and were left with Jose."

Last year, the society's effigy was of broadcaster and columnist Katie Hopkins and featured the phrase "Speak before you think".

Mr Mitchell said: "There were a lot of people who wanted us to burn Katie Hopkins again but she's put all that weight on so building her would have been a lot of extra work."

The society runs the bonfire celebrations to raise money for local charities.