Battle for Britain (Private Eye)
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Battle For Britain was a satirical comic strip published in the British magazine Private Eye. It was attributed to Monty Stubble, a nom de plume of editor Ian Hislop whose artistic collaborator was Nick Newman.
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[edit] Publication
Battle For Britain was published fortnightly in Private Eye between 1983 and 1987. The strips were then published in book form by André Deutsch.
[edit] Premise
Set during Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's second term of office, the series describes British politics of the time in terms of World War II.
The Conservative government is shown as a Fascist organisation ruling the Fatherland. The Führer, Herr Thatchler, is a paranoid megalomaniac served by her grovelling henchmen who include Von Gunner, Von Tebbit, Chancellor Helmut Lawson and Lord Howe-Howe (a play on Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe and Lord Haw-Haw).
The Labour Party, then in opposition, is portrayed as a bunch of British soldiers referred to as the Marauders. They are led by the inexperienced Corporal "Taffy" Kinnock and the turban-wearing "Darky" Chatterjee (a reference to Roy Hattersley's multi-racial constituency). Much of "Taffy"'s woes come from his own side, especially from left-wingers like "Barmy" Benn, and "Fatty" Heffer, whose "cruel cockney humour" is often referred to as lowering morale on his own side.
The SDP-Liberal Alliance is referred to as the Allies and are led by the legendary Doc "Killer" Owen of the paramedics and "Wee" Jock Steel, the Tartan Terror. As in many satirical presentations (such as Spitting Image), Steel is shown as a weakling overshadowed by the more dominant Owen.
[edit] Analysis
Puns and jokes featured in the strip, but the humour was mainly of the put-down variety with characters making cynical and unpleasant remarks to others on their own side. "Taffy" Kinnock in particular is always mocked by "Fatty" Heffer's cruel cockney humour. Meanwhile Von Gummer, and later Jeffroech Archer, are referred to by Thatchler's other henchmen as "Gumkopf" and "Archcreep schwein".
Some knowledge of Thatcher's second term of office is needed in order to better understand the jokes and events. Cleverly, Hislop and Newman managed to portray many of the events in contemporary politics as typical battles of World War Two:
- By-elections would be shown as the liberation of French towns. These would be renamed Chester-le-Field and Greneviche.
- When government ministers were dismissed from office, Thatchler is shown ordering them to be taken out and shot.
- The Miners' Strike is shown as "Sapper" Scargill leading "Taffy"'s marauders through some treacherous minefields.
- Bomber commander Patroech Junkers leads The Blitz and is opposed from RAF South Bank by Spitfire ace "Red" Ken. This takes place when Patrick Jenkin, the Environment Secretary, was out to abolish the Greater London Council, led by Ken Livingstone.
[edit] Example
This cartoon was published in Private Eye in the middle of 1986 at about the time when Parliament was about to go into recess.
- Labour had just won the Newcastle-under-Lyme by-election [1]. Kinnock (holding the flag) had recently managed to expel Derek Hatton from the party [2]. Hatton (carrying the bag) is shown with fellow left-wingers Tony Benn (in the dress) and Eric Heffer.
- The Alliance had failed to gain the seat by about 800 votes. They complained that the media was not giving them enough coverage.
- Thatcher was being heavily criticised by other Commonwealth leaders for not supporting sanctions against apartheid South Africa, led by President P.W. Botha [3].
- As a result, half the participant countries boycotted the 1986 Commonwealth Games being held in Edinburgh.
- The Conservatives were worried about their position in the opinion polls, especially since the general election was due next year.
[edit] The Series ends
The series ended after the 1987 General Election and was later published in book form.
It was replaced by Dan Dire, Pilot of the Future?, which took a similar view of politics, this time in terms of science fiction: Owen became Doctor Whowen and Thatcher was portrayed as the Maggon. Dan Dire was Kinnock and the questioning title was over whether or not he would ever be Prime Minister.
[edit] Book
- Stubble, Monty (1987). Battle for Britain. Andre Deutsch. ISBN 0-233-98136-5.
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