As noted by many bloggers and cartoon enthusiasts out there, James Gillray’s ‘Plum Pudding’ from 26 February 1805 has been redrawn for many different political situations in the intervening three-hundred and twenty-four years. I shall pull in a few in the page below. As I’ve mentioned a few times before, my undergraduate dissertation focused on James Gillray’s and George Cruikshank’s depictions of the French Revolution. And so I can’t resist an ‘after….’ cartoon when someone today makes a reference. See a recent analysis of a Ben Jennings’ cartoon in a similar vein.

Gillray’s famous ‘A Plum Pudding in Danger‘ is redrawn to note almost any political argument and Peter Brookes has redrawn it to satirise the current situation over Covid-19 vaccinations between France and the UK. Boris, representing the UK in this image, has stolen the entire plum pudding. In this case, the pudding is the entire supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has left nothing for France (and the EU). In Boris’ Bicorn, he also hides many vials of the vaccine.

There has been criticism of Emmanuel Macron’s vaccine policy recently, with many feeling that the nation did not secure enough vaccines early on when nations were bidding for ridiculous numbers. For example the UK has over 400 million on order (the population of the UK is under 70 million and if we each need two doses then one wonders what we’re going to do with the other 260 million, or indeed if the UK Government is looking to have at least a year’s supply in the bank, then we’ve still got another 120 million spare). To make things more interesting, French company Valneva has started manufacturing its vaccine in Scotland, and it already signed a deal with the UK to supply 40 million doses, and will be prioritised over France and the rest of the EU . Meanwhile France’s vaccination figures lag far behind the rest of the European nations, with just 2.08m inoculations vs Britain’s 11.98m (as of 6 Feb), a rate of 3.1 per 100,000 vs 17.6. Some in Britain regale the new-found freedom from the EU partnership, and Britain certainly seems to be ahead of the game. Though, given the economic pain felt in the country and those in charge wishing to open up as quickly as possible, vaccination is the only route to achieve this.

The array of other cartoons I found that had paid homage to Gillray’s famous comment are wide and varied. Here are a selection of them – and these are just some of the ones from the last 10 years!

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It’s been used by artists all over the world, by cartoonists time and again. It is an easy way of depicting a crisis or a moment when countries, or even parties inside a country, disagree, and when people in power make deals which aren’t theirs to make.

However, Brookes’ use of Gillray’s very clever cartoon is particularly clever itself. Gillray depicted Pitt and Napoleon carving up the world for Britain and France’s respective uses. Here, Brookes has used the writing as much as the cartoon to tell us that a very similar global issue – two of the world’s most developed nations fighting over the vaccines that will potentially pave the way out of lockdowns – at the expense of the rest of the world.

Here’s the classic one more time…