A LARGE room somewhere in London. The venue a secret. Stored within are more than 200 of the most important figures of the past 20 years.

People who have shaped our society -- for better or for worse.

Nestled among them is Home Secretary and Blackburn MP the Rt Hon Jack Straw with many of his political peers -- latex peers, that is.

Reporter JAMIE DIFFLEY went to find out who was pulling the strings.

EVERY man has a price or so the saying goes. Even the Rt Hon Jack Straw.

But what price do you put on a dignified politician and former barrister? A man who has risen through the ranks to hold one of the top jobs in the cabinet.

Approximately £500.

For that princely sum you too could own your very own Home Secretary. A perfect addition to any home which would wow the neighbours, provide a fascinating talking point and -- in keeping with his tough policies on crime -- most likely scare any unsuspecting, and unwanted, visitors half to death.

The Blackburn MP is just one of more than 800 latex puppets that in the 80s and 90s were the stars of the mercilessly satirical show Spitting Image.

For 14 years, in which 18 series were made, politicians, sports figures, musicians, Royals, in fact anybody in the public eye was lampooned in the pioneering puppet programme which at its peak attracted more than 12million viewers. Now the most popular 200 are to be sold at auction over the Internet by Sothebys.

Roger Law, who with Peter Fluck, created Spitting Image and brought the characters to life, is getting rid of his creations and using the money for a new life abroad.

The popularity of the characters is reflected in the estimated price and at around £500 the rubber head of Jack Straw, complete with "moveable wire mouth" and pneumatic blinking eyelids, is seen as a respectable price -- in the same range as Bruce Forsyth and Saddam Hussein, more than OJ Simpson, Vinnie Jones and even Prince William.

But Jack is lagging behind Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who is expected to fetch up to £600.

"As a football fan I am flattered that I am more expensive than Vinnie Jones," said the flesh-and-blood version of the Home Secretary when we caught up with him at Westminster. "I had completely forgotten that I had a Spitting Image puppet."

With the sale on the world-wide web bidders far and wide will log on with interest. And Jack's alter ego could find itself being snapped up and shipped out to any part of the globe by an admirer.

"There is no accounting for taste I suppose. I certainly wouldn't spend £500 on a puppet of myself," said Mr Straw.

"It's bad enough seeing the real thing every morning in the shaving mirror."

But for those interested, Roger Law said they would be getting something better than the real thing.

"With really famous people we would take huge liberties with what they looked like but when they first appeared you had to make them like the real person so the audience would get it," said Roger, who pulled the plug on the show in 1997.

"With Jack Straw people knew he was a public figure and his name but they didn't really know what he looked like.

"Personally I think we made our Jack Straw more handsome than the real one!"