I'm a big fan of political satire. Be it Spitting Image or Yes Minister, there's something oddly enjoyable for me in seeing our political leaders being sent up. Is it because I'm in politics? Maybe, I don't know, but it certainly amuses me.
Nothing does so much more than Dave Brown's wonderfully satirical daily cartoons in The Independent. He began working with The Sunday Times in 1989 and moved onto The Independent in 1996 and he's been there ever since. I read it regularly and his daily cartoons alongside the Editorial rarely fail to amuse me.
So I felt that I should pay my own little tribute to this, one of our country's finest political cartoon satirists.
We begin at the very present. In yesterday's Independent (18th May 2011), Brown gave this depiction of Queen Elizabeth II as she began her first ever visit to the Republic of Ireland...
Going back a bit further to November 2007, here's then PM Gordon Brown with Richard Branson and then in a fantastic Laurel and Hardy parody, it's GB with his Darling.
We now cross the Atlantic to the race for the Democratic candidature for the White House back in January 2008. Here, Obama is seen sprinting away from Hillary Clinton who is being held back by her husband Bill!
Meanwhile from the same period in France, a brilliant parody of Beauty and the Beast with President Sarkozy and Carla Bruni!
Back in the US of A, here's President Bush with his own take on justice, and on the Beach Boys...
Also, the race to succeed Bush became that bit clearer as Obama finally outgunned Clinton in their Democratic Party dogfight!
Speaking of dogs, in November 2008, Obama won the Presidential election and everyone wanted to congratulate him! In January 2009 he officially took charge...
As 2010 approached, so did the British General Election...
...and suddenly, there was a new kid on the block called Nick Clegg...
Before we knew it, we had a hung parliament, a new coalition, a new politics and a new target for the cartoonists and satirists...
Post-election, the world carried on and whilst Tony Blair released his memoirs, Labour chose a new leader...
Meanwhile, with the on-set of 2011, economic woes in Europe and growing discontents in the Arab world brought new challenges...
Before we knew it, Obama was facing troubles as well himself. What of birth certificates and death certificates...
To conclude my homage to this prime political cartoonist, here's today's special and it is of course of Justice Minister Ken Clarke...
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