Michael Cummings

Arthur Stuart Michael Cummings OBE (born Leeds, Yorkshire, 1 June 1919, died London, 9 October 1997) was a British newspaper cartoonist. He was known as Michael Cummings and signed his work simply Cummings.

Early life Cummings's mother was an artist, while his father, A. J. Cummings, was political editor of the Liberal News Chronicle daily newspaper of London. He was educated at The Hall, Hampstead, London, Gresham's School, in Norfolk, then at the Chelsea School of Art, London.

Work Cummings was initially a supporter of the Labour Party and contributed illustrations for the pro-Labour magazine Tribune.

Controversy In 1965, Cummings drew a cartoon depicting Lyndon B. Johnson being entangled in a thorn tree with the head of a black man, while a British politician wearing blinkers watered a plant with the head of a black child. The tree carried three labels on its branches marked "Little Rock", "Malcolm X" and "Harlem Riots". The cartoon was an expression of Cummings's opposition to allowing black people to immigrate to Britain, believing such immigration would cause US-style race riots. This cartoon drew complaints from a group of Oxford students. They made an unsuccessful complaint to the British Press Council, stating that the cartoon distorted "historical, political and social realities to express a view which is not merely the lowest taste, but is a direct and calculated insult to coloured peoples both in Britain and America". In October 1971, Cummings drew a cartoon titled "Father O'Brezhnev, Missionary to Ulster", which depicted Leonid Brezhnev as a Roman Catholic Priest who was supplying weapons to the IRA. The NUJ members stopped the presses in protest, and over 350,000 copies of the Daily Express were lost. This caused several writers to accuse Cummings of promoting anti-Irish prejudices.

Reception Cummings's work was praised by Gerald Nabarro. In his autobiography, NAB 1: Portrait of a Politician, Nabarro described Cummings as a "great artist" who "adds vivacity and insight to every political situation he depicts." Amongst his fellow cartoonists, "Vicky" in particular hated Cummings, claiming – according to the journalist James Cameron – that "he was the only man entitled to draw with a Post Office nib": "He also despised his political attitudes and said he was a time-server."

Honours 1983 – Officer of the Order of the British Empire