Which side are you on?

On Thursday 4 July the British public will go to the polls for the first time since 2019 to select their government. Will it be Starmer or Sunak?

In the lead-up to the election the Museum is hosting a short trail through the history of elections in the UK, highlighting some of our favourite election cartoons over the years and featuring artists such as James Gillray, Trog, Steve Bell, Nicola Jennings and Ella Baron.

Your country needs you to piss off © Ella Baron 2024

Many are treating the 2024 election as something of a foregone conclusion. After 14 years of a Tory government the public are making their feelings audibly clear that time may be up – only last week during the first televised debate, a fairly weak joke about Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s maths ability from Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer brought audible jeers and mocking from the audience as Sunak tried to defend himself (albeit also poorly).

224 years ago, the 1804 Middlesex by-election was also hotly contested. Gillray’s cartoon from the election shows popular radical candidate Sir Francis Burdett en route to the hustings, travelling past a densely packed and cheering mob, who proceeded to shout down his opposition, George Mainwaring (standing in place of his father William, who had initially been elected in the 1802 General election, but seen the result declared void in 1804 due to his bribing of voters). Burdett was the favourite of the mob attending the hustings, and Mainwaring was shouted down, unable to get his points across….yet in the following contest, George Mainwaring was elected. Are we in for another switch-about in July?

Middlesex-election, 1804, James Gillray 1804

Back in 2019, Boris Johnson led the Conservatives to a crushing victory over Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party, basing his platform on the slogan ‘Get Brexit done’ (remember Brexit?).  The Conservatives won 365 seats, many captured from Leave-voting former Labour strongholds in the north, condemning Labour to its worst election performance since 1935, winning 202 seats. This was after an election without a public vote, that saw Johnson replace Theresa May in mid-2019, and shortly before another two elections without a public vote, one that saw Conservative Party members elect walking disaster area Liz Truss, who 49 days later was replaced by Rishi Sunak, this time via a vote of the MPs. This time WE get to choose. Has Starmer got it licked or will Sunak prevail?

Licked © Nicola Jennings 2024

Which side are YOU on? Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple? Either way, make sure you get out to the polls on 4^th July and cast your vote.

We also have a lovely selection of election-themed goodies in our shop to complete the visit.  For example, are you sick of Nigel Farage? Now you can feed him to your cat! (for clarity – and on the advice of lawyers – we wouldn’t advise you to feed the real Nigel Farage to a cat…). There are no Keir Starmer ice creams for sale though I’m afraid!

Alternatively you could join the Cultural Comics Impact Collective in drawing a comic for your MP

by Joe Sullivan