The Marconi Octopus Liberal Party - “Another tentacle or two and I’m done for!” published in Punch, or the London Charivari, on June 18th 1913.

The name ‘Marconi Octopus’ was derived from the Marconi Company who received a large  contract from the UK government to build six radio stations to ‘linking Britain to the Empire’ (1). The scandal involved three ministers — Sir Rufus Isaacs, Lloyd George and Lord Murray — who were accused of insider trading.

The cartoon above was published at the time of a charge of criminal libel against Cecil Chesterton, a publisher, (2) by Godfrey Isaacs, the Marconi Comapny’s director, went to court (3).

The court ruled against Cecil Chesterton and fined him a token £100 plus costs, which was paid by his supporters. Some supporters claimed the decision would have gone differently had Cecil’s lawyer aggressively gone after the accused ministers who were at the heart of the scandal. In the next issue of the New Witness, Cecil Chesterton repeated his allegations against the ministers, who still did not sue. (4)

For more information see: “The Marconi Scandal - 1912” by Parris & MacGuire and “The Marconi Scandal” on Wikipedia.

Footnotes & References:

Image Source: Altered from - Parris & MacGuire, “The Marconi Scandal” (see below) p.82 (Accessed: 3 Oct 2010)

(1) Parris, M. and K. MacGuire (2005). The Marconi Scandal - 1912: From Whitewash to Won’t Wash: the Marconi Octopus. Great Parliamentary Scandals: Five Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo. London, Robson Books.

(2) Cecil Chesterton published several articles accusing Rufus Isaacs and Herbert Samuel of insider trading (Wikipedia: The Marconi Scandal)

(3) ibid

(4) ibid

Cartoon by Geoff Pryor, published in the Canberra Times on 6 June 1979.

The octopus has its limbs tattooed as “Narc[otics] Bureau”, “Police”, “Politicians”, “Traffickers”, and “Pushers”. The only players not part of the octopus (or complicit) are the dealer(?) and buyer.

Relates to the Australian Federal Police Act of 1979. This later (October 1979) resulted in the formation of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) by merging the Commonwealth police, Narcotics Bureau and the ACT police (1). The Narcotics Bureau was disbanded with duties relating to drugs and terrorism split between the newly formed AFP and Customs (2).

Footnotes:

(1) “Australian Federal Police”, Wikipedia (Accessed: 6th June 2010)

(2) McKenna, M. ‘AFP to tackle drugs, terrorism’, The Australian, Jan 1st, 2010.

Cartoon by Peter Schrank, published in the ‘Independent on Sunday’, on the 23rd Mar 1997. More sleazy tentacles in the ‘Cash for Questions’ affair.

Image Source: The British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent

“Sleaze”by Peter Schrank, Published in ‘The Independent’ on the 7th Oct 1996. Relates to the ‘Cash for Questions’ Affair. See also: David Brown cartoon.

Image Source: The British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent

The cartoon by Dave Brown was published in the Sunday Times on the 6th Oct 1996, at the end of the “Cash for Questions” affair.

The people illustrated are¹: Ian Greer (the Octopus), David Linsay Willetts (left of octopus), Mohamed Al-Fayed (right of octopus, entangled in tentacle), Former British PM John Major (right of octopus - glasses, entangled in tentacle), and Neil Hamilton (under water reaching for writ that the lobster is removing out of his reach).

Text: “Libel Writ”, “Harrods Voucher”

A Westminster lobbying company was paid tens of thousands of pounds to give to two high-flying Conservative MPs for asking parliamentary questions at £2,000 a time on behalf of Harrods during the height of the Lonrho and House of Fraser controversy.

Neil Hamilton, now minister at the Department of Trade and Industry responsible for business probity, and Tim Smith, junior Northern Ireland minister, were both named yesterday as recipients of payments passed to Ian Greer Associates by Mohamed Al-Fayed, the owner of Harrods, on top of a £50,000 fee for a parliamentary lobbying campaign.²

In response Ian Greer and Neil Hamilton issued libel writs against The Guardian³. These were withdrawn in late September 1996 (just prior to the cartoon), when evidence against them was produced by employees of Al-Fayed⁴.

The ‘Harrods Voucher’ refers to a free shopping spree at Harrods provided by Al-Fayed to Hamilton⁵.

David Linsay Willetts (pictured to one side, shaking) was forced to resign as Paymaster General as a result of the investigation into Neil Hamilton in 1996⁶.

Further info/links on the ‘Cash for Questions’ in footnotes.

Footnotes

Image Source: Cartoon ”Sleaze“ by Dave Brown, Publ. in Sunday Times, 6 October 1996, Held in the British Cartoon Archive (Accessed: 17th Feb 2009)

1. “PC0437”, British Cartoon Archive (Accessed: 17th Feb 2009)
2. Hencke, David. “Tory MPs Were Paid to Plant Questions Says Harrods Chief.” The Guardian, Thursday 20 October 1994. (Accessed: 18th Feb 2009)
3. Wikipedia. “Cash-for-Questions Affair.”  Last edited: 03 Feb 2010 (Accessed: 18th Feb 2009)
4. ibid.
5. Hencke, ‘Tory MPs’
6. Wikipedia. “David Willetts.”  Last edited: 07 Feb 2010 (Accessed: 18th Feb 2009)
   

The Devil Fish of Californian Politics (Walter, 1889)

The cartoon was published in The Wasp, v. 22, Jan. – June 1889 and ’shows “highbinder” caught in tentacles of Buckley octopus’¹. The caption reads ‘The Devil Fish of Californian Politics’ with a sub caption ‘ECSS Buckley’s rapacious maw equal to anything from a state capitol to an almshouse or a dog pound’. The tentacles – with their bird-reptilian like hands – have the names: teachers, state legislators, ‘Solidine’, and grasp: [chinese] ‘highbinder’,  ’spring valley water’, the courts, the school house, the fire dept, the jury, the dog house, the alms house, the house of correction, and the gas company.

Footnotes

1. Library of Congress (http://tinyurl.com/cbltdr) Accessed: 4th April 2009.