Tim Benson, Political Cartoon Gallery owner Comparing Brown to Stalin is an easy jibe, and about as subtle as a kick in the groin. It’s amazing how so many cartoonists latched onto it. Brown does come across as controlling and paranoid, but he’s hardly genocidal.
The problem for political leaders is that if you lead from the front, you’re seen as dictatorial, whereas otherwise you’re seen as weak. Other than Steve Bell’s work, I don’t think the cartoons are terribly effective.
Thomas Dau, patron The cartoons are all a bit over-the-top. His association with the New Labour project means Gordon is guilty of many things, but hardly on the same level as Stalin. I see him more like the Austrian diplomat Metternich or the Frenchman Talleyrand, acting in the background, pulling the strings.
Sara and John Gosling, society members Brown behaves like a commissar, but the comparison is a bit far. Steve Bell’s cartoon is typically acid and very clever, and I love the speech bubble in Peter Brookes’ cartoon.
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Brown doesn’t have the temperament to Prime Minister. The problem with some of these cartoons is that they almost make him look like a normal person.
Alex Hughes, cartoonist for Tribune Peter Brookes’ and Steve Bell’s cartoons are the most effective of the lot.
The problem is if you try to draw Brown like Stalin, he doesn’t look like Brown any more. In my cartoon for Tribune the main focus is on Brown painting Blair out of a photo, in reference to his so-called Stalinist tendencies.”
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Steve Bell, Guardian cartoonist Ideally a good cartoon should make the reader laugh and think about the subject at the same time.
Likening Gordon to Stalin is obviously not a fair comparison, but that’s the whole point.
The comment by the civil servant was a gift to cartoonists – there’s great visual resonance.
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