In his daily cartoon and long-running strip, If…, in the Guardian, Steve Bell has proved that he is without equal in Britain as political cartoonist. Savage, funny, rude, constantly transgressing the rules of good taste, and beautifully drawn, his cartoons are hated by those they lampoon and loved by everyone who likes to see authority subverted. In his new collection he covers the years of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, 2010-2015, fertile ground for Bell’s genius. From George Osborne in his bondage gear, the ‘Quiet Man’ zombie Iain Duncan Smith, Cable the elephant, Cameron the talking condom and Clegg the butler to Kipling and the If… penguins, every moment of the coalition years is re-run before your eyes.

Speaker biography:

Steve Bell’s original strip cartoon, Maggie’s Farm, appeared in Time Out and City Lights magazines from 1979 until 1998, and since 1981, he has written and drawn the daily If… strip in the Guardian. Since 1990, he has also produced four large free-standing cartoons a week on the leader pages. He has won numerous awards, including the Political Cartoon Society Cartoon of the Year Award in 2001 and 2008, Cartoonist of the Year in 2005 and 2007, the British Press Awards Cartoonist of the Year in 2002, and the Cartoon Arts Trust Award eight times. His work has been published and exhibited all over the world, and he has had several retrospective exhibitions of his artwork across the UK.

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