12 Brilliant Political Cartoons From 2013

Britain doesn't just have some of the best journalists in the world, it has excellent cartoonists too. Here are 12 of the best from the last year, taken from The Best of Britain's Political Cartoons 2013.

1. Morten Moreland on Berlusconi - The Times.

Morton Moreland / The Times

Italy's supreme court upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for both tax fraud and for having had sex with a minor. Due to his age, he was ordered to serve the sentence under house arrest in only one of his many houses. In a sober video message after the verdict, Berlusconi proclaimed his total innocence and launched into a bitter attack on the magistrates that, he said, had hounded him for 20 years and become an undemocratic rival power to the state.

2. Peter Brookes on Ed Miliband - The Times.

Peter Brookes / The Times

In a bid to outflank David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls claimed Labour would use next month’s Budget to bring back the 10p rate of income tax controversially scrapped by Gordon Brown in 2007. The clear rejection of Brown and Labour’s past was a tactical move by Miliband to restore the public’s trust in Labour on the economy.

3. Brighty on Boris at the Olympics - The Sun.

Brighty / The Sun

London Mayor, Boris Johnson, made his presence felt at the Olympic Games when he was left dangling 20ft in the air after getting stuck on a zip-wire. Johnson claimed his rocketing popularity would “all come crashing down” after the Olympics while brushing aside polls which put him as favourite to succeed David Cameron as Tory leader.

Cameron joked later that only Johnson could get away so well with getting stuck on a wire. “If any other politician anywhere in the world was stuck on a zip-wire it would be a disaster. For Boris, it’s an absolute triumph.”

4. Bob Moran on the Budget - The Daily Telegraph.

Bob Moran / The Daily Telegraph

In the lead up to George Osborne’s budget, Cameron made a speech on the economy in which he stated (referring to Labour’s attitude to borrowing) that there was no "Magic Money Tree". According to the cartoonist: “I liked the idea that no one had bothered to explain this to George and he was building his whole budget plan on this tree existing.”

5. Ben Jennings on the bedroom tax - The Guardian.

Ben Jennings / The Guardian

Protests were held over Easter in regard to the Coalition’s bedroom tax. Over 13,000 people came out to protest at 52 locations, demanding an end to the changes. When introduced, the scheme will see people of a working age in social housing who have a spare bedroom have their housing benefit reduced by £40 to £80 a month.

6. Patrick Blower on Obama and surveillance - The Daily Telegraph.

Patrick Blower / The Daily Telegraph

Barack Obama struck a defiant tone amid revelations over the extent of surveillance operations by the United States federal government, arguing that the programmes had full congressional approval while also criticising “leaks” and “hype” in the media. He did acknowledge, however, that authorities had undertaken a seven-year programme to monitor the telephone calls of potentially millions of people in the United States.

7. Chris Riddell on war in the Middle East - The Observer.

Chris Riddell / The Observer

President Assad’s bloody defiance risked wider conflict in the Middle East. Lebanon had asked Syria to avoid incursions by its troops into Lebanese territory as several Lebanese civilians, including women and children, had been killed during border skirmishes.

8. Christian Adams on the royal baby - The Daily Telegraph.

Christian Adams / The Daily Telegraph

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's new baby made royal history as it became the third living heir to the throne.

9. Dave Brown on migrant workers - The Independent.

Dave Brown / The Independent

Shadow Immigration Minister Chris Bryant claimed that the supermarket giant Tesco had undercut the wages of its British employees by recruiting cheap labour from Easter Europe

10. Gary Barker on Robert Mugabe - The Times.

Gary Barker / The Times

President Robert Mugabe vowed to step down if he lost the Zimbabwe election, "If you lose you must surrender," the 89-year-old veteran said at a press conference in Harare on the eve of the vote. Mugabe, through a series of violent and suspicious elections, has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years. Mugabe denied any attempts to rig the election, declaring: "We have done no cheating."

11. Martin Rowson on NHS cuts - The Guardian.

Martin Rowson / The Guardian

Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt's plan to reduce casualty and maternity services at Lewisham hospital was declared unlawful by the High Court.Mr Justice Silber said the secretary of state had breached provisions of the National Health Services Act 2006

12. Peter Schrank on Twitter - Independent on Sunday.

Peter Schrank / Independent on Sunday

Twitter announced plans to introduce a "report abuse" button following the abusive tweets, including rape and death threats, to historian Mary Beard, British feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, and the British MP Stella Creasy. Three men were arrested under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 in connection with the incidents.

All these cartoons are taken from The Best of Britain's Political Cartoons 2013, edited by Tim Benson and Published by Scribe.