Germans mock Boris Johnson in carnival float depicting Scotland running away

Germany mocks Boris Johnson and Brexit in a carnival in Dusseldorf. Photograph: Georgia Kyriakidou/Twitter. - Credit: Archant

A major German carnival has mocked Boris Johnson and Brexit in a float which shows Scotland running away from the rest of the UK.

The annual Rose Monday parade attracts thousands every year as they flock to see the topical floats designed by Jacques Tilly, one of the country’s leading float designers.

The event marks the end of carnival season which runs from November to Ash Wednesday.

His influences are taken from popular British comedies including Spitting Image, Monty Python and Little Britain.

One of the main centrepieces depicts Boris Johnson in a union flag top with Little England on the back – and a kilt with Scotland on it and legs with EU socks marching away from him.

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Others include US president Donald Trump snuggling up to Iran’s Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei with a slogan that reads: “Make love, not war.”

Another showed a burning kangaroo with a map of the world on it with the words “Australia is burn” warning that global warming affects everywhere.

Another features the coronavirus as another bug called “carnival virus” jeers and mocks the illness.

Greta Thunberg also features in one – dangling two parents by their ears – calling on them to “finally do something about the climate catastrophe”.

Speaking in the Times, Tilly explained his work. He said: “Germany and humour, it’s complicated. We have always been very obedient to authority. Humour is always also criticism, and criticism has always been regarded here as corrosive to the state.

“You were always labelled as a social pest when you criticised anyone like the Kaiser or the Führer.’

“The Germans have only just learnt that criticism is a crucial part of forging public opinion. That’s new and it’s only happened in the past few decades.

“The Brits have always been ahead of us there. I try to go in the direction of British humour to bring in a hardness, an uncompromising quality, a courage that you hardly ever get here. Things are always a bit tamer in Germany.”