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The Political Cartoon Awards 2023
Posted on Wednesday 24th January 2024 by Tim
The Political Cartoon Awards 2023 were held in Smith Square on 5 December. The event, run by the Political Cartoon Society, saw the twice-recent former Home Secretary Suella Braverman MP present the awards, alongside Kulveer Ranger, Baron Ranger of Northwood, who had recently been made a peer.
The evening opened with Tim Benson praising both Zoom Rockman and Steve Bell, who have quit or been fired over their cartoonist convictions, unlike Martin Rowson who had swallowed his principles in order to keep his job at the Guardian. The Lord Ranger talked about the importance of political cartoons and wondered why no one had done any of him. He also took a divergence, talking down recent Marvel movies, which would have been worthy of his former mayoral boss, Boris Johnson.
Dr Tim Benson open proceedings at the 2023 Political Cartoon of the Year Awards
Braverman despite being guest of honour, found that the assembled scribblers were not in the honouring mood. She took the stage to panto boos and said “the heckling has started already”. “Boy have you painted me horrifically,” she complained in her first speech since leaving government, “they say politics is showbusiness for ugly people and judging by your cartoons of me that is definitely true.” “It’s called realism,” shouted one wag. “Ah, there we go,” she sighed. Braverman wondered if one particularly disturbing depiction of her as the girl from The Exorcist was a compliment. “It wasn’t,” quipped a freelance cartoonist for The Guardian. “Would you like to come up?,” Braverman asked, glowering into the crowd, “you’ve got so much to say! Come on, come on then.” The cartoonist, Rebecca Hendin, mounted the stage before host Gavin Ellwood intervened, asking them to save the boxing match for later.
Suella Braverman is confronted by diminutive Guardian cartoonist Rebecca Hendin
Braverman carried on with awards, handing a large wooden spoon to runner up Steve Bell, who was sacked from The Guardian this year after four decades when he drew an image some thought anti-Semitic.
“I can’t believe I’ve won this spoon, it’s the most fabulous thing,” he said, “it’s been a shit year to be honest but as a master of hate speech I will say I’ve been trying my best to make free comment but unfortunately the Guardian is no longer a home to freedom of comment.” On the subject of free expression, the former home secretary mentioned the current bidding war for the Telegraph and Spectator titles. "I want to be clear, I oppose their takeover by RedBird IMI. The Telegraph is one of the bedrocks of our free press and The Spectator is an irrepressible voice for challenging established orthodoxies," she said. "To my mind there is no doubt that this takeover will hinder the accurate presentation of news and the free expression of opinion and the independence of the paper will undeniably be compromised if its control is ceded to the hands of a foreign state. That freedom is essential, now more than ever, in a healthy democracy, and I hope that that takeover does not go ahead." "I hope that you continue unhindered by political interference, financial interests or fear of causing offence," she said, before a heckler asked "can we have that in writing?" Another asked: "do they have cartoonists in Rwanda?" Braverman awarded the Political Cartoon of the Year, to the Evening Standard’s Christian Adams and the Political Cartoonist of the Year to Patrick Blower.
Christian Adams with Suella Braverman and the Gillray Goblet.