A new book shines a Davy lamp on political cartoons during the bitter miners’ strike in the mid eighties. It includes around 130 cartoons.
It’s by Nicholas Jones who was the BBC industrial and senior political correspondent for over 20 years. He’s also written many books on UK politics and industrial relations.
The miners’ strike was one of the most monumental stories during his long career. Nick kept an impressive archive of newspaper cuttings and magazines as well as his BBC scripts on the strike, all of which included a large amount of the daily cartoons from the print media. He has since donated this collection to Sheffield University.
Steve Bell, The Guardian
The book includes a foreword by former Guardian cartoonist and PCO member Steve Bell. Steve has also been recording his reflections 40 years on from the miners’ strike on his personal blog.
Nick talking about the book at St John the Baptist Church, Barnet.
This fascinating book looks at how cartoonists covered the miners’ strike. One interesting aspect is how much prominence political cartoons had in a very different media landscape well before the diversification of how people encounter news. There was no internet or 24 hour news channels and newspapers had huge readerships.
Peter Brookes, The Times.
Stanley Franklin, The Sun
On the whole the mainstream news outlets, even the ones considered centre left, took a position against the strike: it remained for smaller, harder left publications to give an alternative voice. This was also reflected in the cartoons. NUM President Arthur Scargill was portrayed as the pantomime villain and Labour opposition leader Neil Kinnock depicted as his puppet. This amplified the feeling of ‘us versus them’ and the siege mentality of the striking mine workers.
Eccles, Morning Star
All the newspapers were still black and white which really suited the cartoons on this often bleak story of pit closures, divided unions, picket lines, aggressive Margaret Thatcher government and brutal confrontations with accusations of ‘over zealous’ policing.
Alan Hardman, Young Miner
Woodall, News Line.
Gerald Scarfe, The Sunday Times
Trog (Wally Fawkes), The Observer.
Nick answered some questions about the book:
Why did you collect so many cartoons?
During the 1984 miners’ strike, when I was labour and industrial correspondent for BBC Radio, I built up my own archive of newspaper clippings together with my radio scripts and notes. Over the 12 months of the dispute, I cut out literally hundreds of cartoons because they attracted my attention. Many were eye-catching and particularly memorable given the controversial nature of press reporting of the miners’ struggle against pit closures. I knew that some were seen as being offensive to the strikers.
Nicholas Garland, The Daily Telegraph.
What part did the cartoons play in the press coverage?
Most national newspapers denounced the NUM President Arthur Scargill. They backed Mrs Thatcher in demanding that the police crackdown on picket line violence. Cartoons, especially in the leading tabloids, tended to be staunchly pro-government, against the miners, portraying Scargill as a threat to law and order. After the miners’ defeat in the Battle of Orgreave in June 1984, the government’s tactic was to try to break the strike by persuading the men to return to work. Most of the cartoons backed the government’s agenda.
Noel Ford, Daily Star
Did cartoons influence public opinion at the time?
My view at the end of the strike was that the media front line had become as important as the picket line in determining the outcome of the dispute. Press reporting was biased heavily in support of Mrs Thatcher and the leading cartoonists followed – and clearly backed – the government’s agenda. So yes, I think many of the cartoons did play their part in demonising the miners and in influencing public opinion.
Why have you waited forty years to write about this?
During the strike I became fascinated by the crucial role played by the media during the strike and the way the media were being manipulated – hence the title of my first book Strikes andthe Media (1986).I did include a couple of the cartoons. But it wasn’t until a year ago, when I started preparing for the 40th anniversary of the strike, that I went back into the loft and looked through my archive once again. What struck me immediately were the cartoons. They jumped out from heaps of press cuttings and scripts. They told the story of the strike in such a graphic, provocative way. They were in your face, as they say.
Gerald Scarfe, The Sunday Times
Was the work of many of the cartoonists really so one sided against the strike?
Yes, but not entirely. Clearly some of the cartoonists on national newspapers had their doubts and were critical of Mrs Thatcher. In retrospect, what was so important, was that I had made a point of cutting out cartoons from every left-wing newspaper, magazine or journal which I read.
Alan Hartman, Militant Miner
What were cartoonists for the left-wing press trying to achieve?
They were often trade union activists, volunteers, and they were up against the highly paid cartoonists of what was then Fleet Street. I have a chapter looking at the fight-back by the left, how the emphasis of their work was on building solidarity and finding ways through cartoon imagery to attack the Police and Mrs Thatcher.
Peter Brookes, The Times
Is the work of cartoonists and illustrators an untold story about the media’s rolein the strike?
Yes, in the mid-1980s newspapers had much greater influence than today. There was no rolling news or social media, and it was cartoonists who could often portray images and encapsulate thoughts that could not be captured by the printed word.
Both Nick Jones and Steve Bell will be speaking at the book launch in City Room, Leeds Playhouse on Saturday 1 March at 2.00pm.
The Art of Class War: Newspaper Cartoonists and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike
Cover cartoon: Alan Hartman from ‘Need Not Greed’
Glenn Marshall writes:
A new book shines a Davy lamp on political cartoons during the bitter miners’ strike in the mid eighties. It includes around 130 cartoons.
It’s by Nicholas Jones who was the BBC industrial and senior political correspondent for over 20 years. He’s also written many books on UK politics and industrial relations.
The miners’ strike was one of the most monumental stories during his long career. Nick kept an impressive archive of newspaper cuttings and magazines as well as his BBC scripts on the strike, all of which included a large amount of the daily cartoons from the print media. He has since donated this collection to Sheffield University.
The book includes a foreword by former Guardian cartoonist and PCO member Steve Bell. Steve has also been recording his reflections 40 years on from the miners’ strike on his personal blog.
Nick talking about the book at St John the Baptist Church, Barnet.
This fascinating book looks at how cartoonists covered the miners’ strike. One interesting aspect is how much prominence political cartoons had in a very different media landscape well before the diversification of how people encounter news. There was no internet or 24 hour news channels and newspapers had huge readerships.
Peter Brookes, The Times.
Stanley Franklin, The Sun
On the whole the mainstream news outlets, even the ones considered centre left, took a position against the strike: it remained for smaller, harder left publications to give an alternative voice. This was also reflected in the cartoons. NUM President Arthur Scargill was portrayed as the pantomime villain and Labour opposition leader Neil Kinnock depicted as his puppet. This amplified the feeling of ‘us versus them’ and the siege mentality of the striking mine workers.
Eccles, Morning Star
All the newspapers were still black and white which really suited the cartoons on this often bleak story of pit closures, divided unions, picket lines, aggressive Margaret Thatcher government and brutal confrontations with accusations of ‘over zealous’ policing.
Alan Hardman, Young Miner
Woodall, News Line.
Gerald Scarfe, The Sunday Times
Trog (Wally Fawkes), The Observer.
Nick answered some questions about the book:
Why did you collect so many cartoons?
During the 1984 miners’ strike, when I was labour and industrial correspondent for BBC Radio, I built up my own archive of newspaper clippings together with my radio scripts and notes. Over the 12 months of the dispute, I cut out literally hundreds of cartoons because they attracted my attention. Many were eye-catching and particularly memorable given the controversial nature of press reporting of the miners’ struggle against pit closures. I knew that some were seen as being offensive to the strikers.
Nicholas Garland, The Daily Telegraph.
What part did the cartoons play in the press coverage?
Most national newspapers denounced the NUM President Arthur Scargill. They backed Mrs Thatcher in demanding that the police crackdown on picket line violence. Cartoons, especially in the leading tabloids, tended to be staunchly pro-government, against the miners, portraying Scargill as a threat to law and order. After the miners’ defeat in the Battle of Orgreave in June 1984, the government’s tactic was to try to break the strike by persuading the men to return to work. Most of the cartoons backed the government’s agenda.
Noel Ford, Daily Star
Did cartoons influence public opinion at the time?
My view at the end of the strike was that the media front line had become as important as the picket line in determining the outcome of the dispute. Press reporting was biased heavily in support of Mrs Thatcher and the leading cartoonists followed – and clearly backed – the government’s agenda. So yes, I think many of the cartoons did play their part in demonising the miners and in influencing public opinion.
Why have you waited forty years to write about this?
During the strike I became fascinated by the crucial role played by the media during the strike and the way the media were being manipulated – hence the title of my first book Strikes and the Media (1986). I did include a couple of the cartoons. But it wasn’t until a year ago, when I started preparing for the 40th anniversary of the strike, that I went back into the loft and looked through my archive once again. What struck me immediately were the cartoons. They jumped out from heaps of press cuttings and scripts. They told the story of the strike in such a graphic, provocative way. They were in your face, as they say.
Gerald Scarfe, The Sunday Times
Was the work of many of the cartoonists really so one sided against the strike?
Yes, but not entirely. Clearly some of the cartoonists on national newspapers had their doubts and were critical of Mrs Thatcher. In retrospect, what was so important, was that I had made a point of cutting out cartoons from every left-wing newspaper, magazine or journal which I read.
Alan Hartman, Militant Miner
What were cartoonists for the left-wing press trying to achieve?
They were often trade union activists, volunteers, and they were up against the highly paid cartoonists of what was then Fleet Street. I have a chapter looking at the fight-back by the left, how the emphasis of their work was on building solidarity and finding ways through cartoon imagery to attack the Police and Mrs Thatcher.
Peter Brookes, The Times
Is the work of cartoonists and illustrators an untold story about the media’s role in the strike?
Yes, in the mid-1980s newspapers had much greater influence than today. There was no rolling news or social media, and it was cartoonists who could often portray images and encapsulate thoughts that could not be captured by the printed word.
Both Nick Jones and Steve Bell will be speaking at the book launch in City Room, Leeds Playhouse on Saturday 1 March at 2.00pm.
Further details and to book here
The book is published by the Campaign For Press Freedom (North). If you want to get a copy it’s £12.00 inc. p&p. Contact:
Granville Williams, Editor MediaNorth
email: cpbfnorth@outlook.com
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