Whose Side Are You On? Election Trail at London’s Cartoon Museum

By John Freeman on June 11, 2024

In the lead-up to the General Election, London’s Cartoon Museum is hosting a short trail through the history of elections in the UK, highlighting some of their 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*

*Middlesex-election, 1804, by James Gillray*

They 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 – the Museum 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!” says Museum director Joe Sullivan in a post about the exhibition.

• Whose Side Are You On? The Cartoon Museum 63 Wells St, London, W1A 3AE | Web: cartoonmuseum.org |

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.