The Guardian’s First Edition Highlights 2025's Most Powerful Political Cartoons
The Guardian’s First Edition Tuesday briefing named the year's twelve most powerful political cartoons of 2025, featuring seven contributions by Ben Jennings. The lineup spanned January to December 2025 and included work by Martin Rowson, Ella Baron, Madeline Horwath, Pete Songi, and Jennings.
The year’s events were marked by surreal and challenging political moments such as Donald Trump’s return to office (dubbed Trump 2.0), Jeff Bezos’s wedding in Venice, the ongoing Gaza violence, the Russia–Ukraine war, emerging AI threats, and the growth of far-right parties across Europe and the United States.
Notable cartoons included Rowson’s January piece reflecting on the history of free speech, Ella Baron’s February cartoon addressing the Russia–Ukraine conflict, and Jennings’s March work focused on Elon Musk and Tesla. April’s cartoon tackled Trump’s headlines, May’s commemorated the 80th anniversary of VE Day by juxtaposing remembrance with current conflicts, highlighting concerns about history repeating itself. June illustrated Bezos’s Venice wedding, July depicted Gaza starvation, August showed AI overlords in a cartoon by Madeline Horwath, September marked the UK’s recognition of Palestine, October explored anxieties surrounding Keir Starmer and Nigel Farage, November celebrated Zohran Mamdani’s victory as New York City’s new mayor, and December covered Australia’s ban on social media use for under-16s.
Ben Jennings described Trump 2.0 as a double-edged source of material—highly satirical yet difficult to parody due to the vast scale of late-stage capitalism. Jennings also announced plans for a book collecting his cartoons from the past decade, which is set for release in late 2026.
The feature situates Guardian cartooning within a long tradition of political satire, referencing the work of Gillray and underscoring the enduring public appetite for this art form.
