Great politicians rise above ridicule

Abstract

Lord Baker, vice-chairman of The Cartoon Museum and an expert in the field, traces the history of political lampooning from Robert Walpole to Gordon Brown and concludes that the best politicians take both criticism and praise with more than one pinch of sale: “Prime Ministers and politicians can be hurt by cartoons, but they should remember the cartoonist’s role is not to couch favour or approval. They should ignore the ones that flatter and resist wincing at the ones that ridicule. If, at times, the attack does strike home, they should never let it show. The reputations of the real political giants have not been impaired by the images created by the cartoonists. Great politicians rise above the invective, no doubt sufficiently confident of their own reputation to allow their achievements to be judged by history, rather than by cartoons.”