Shropshire Star

What do you buy the friend who has everything? A set of John Major toby jugs, of course

What present do you buy the friend who has everything?

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Why, a set of John Major Toby jugs of course. If you move quickly, you will be able to bag yourself a set of three, each one exhibiting a different facial expression – a chirpy grin on the large mug, and an angry glare on the small one. Described as being in good condition, the set is yours for £19.99. They're finished in grey, obviously.

Who buys this sort of stuff is hard to fathom. But if this week's announcement of the impending General Election has got your adrenaline pumping, there's a whole host of oddball political memorabilia out there on the worldwide web. One man's junk is another man's treasure, as the saying goes.

John Major toby jugs

If you've got £150 burning a hole in your pocket, you could spend it on a chess set featuring gargoyle-like representations of the Labour and Tory front-benches from the late 1960s or early 1970s. The castings are so crude it is actually quite difficult to tell who is meant to be who, but you can just about pick out Harold Wilson, Barbara Castle, Ted Heath, and Margaret Thatcher.

The straight-haired female Labour character is presumably Shirley Williams, and the matching knights bear a passing resemblance to Jim Callaghan – or is it Denis Healey? Or maybe Roy Jenkins? The dour, moustachioed Tory looks slightly like former Wolverhampton MP Enoch Powell, but it could just as easily be Windsor Davies.

A 1970s political chess set
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