An effigy of former European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will be burned at the stake during bonfire night celebrations.

The Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been poking fun at the famous for nearly 20 years by building and exploding a 10 metre tall effigy alongside their traditional figure of Guy Fawkes.

This year's "celebrity guy" was unveiled this morning ahead of the society's bonfire celebration on Saturday.

Bonfire society member Jon Mitchell said this year's decision came down to Mr Barroso's demand that Britain pay an extra £1.7 billion to the European Union.

He 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."

Speculation as to who this year's guys would be began when William Hill named Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson as the favourite.

But Mr Mitchell said other public opinion polls pointed towards Scottish National Party Leader Alex Salmond and Katie Hopkins, a former contestant on The Apprentice, whose effigy the Kent-based society burnt at the stake last year.

Mr Mitchell said: "It was a difficult one to decide as there was no clear favourite.

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

"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."

Past effigies built and burnt by the bonfire society have included Tony and Cherie Blair, Gordon Brown, Edwina Currie, John Prescott, Mario Balotelli, Wayne Rooney, Lance Armstrong, Russell Brand, Katie Price, Jacques Chirac and even Saddam Hussein.