Michael
Cummings, the son
of A. J. Cummings, the political editor of the News
Chronicle, was
born in 1919. He became a cartoonist and started work on the left-wing
journal Tribune.
During the Second World War he worked for the
Daily
Chronicle
before replacing Sidney
Strube at the
Daily
Express.
After the war Cummings
became more right-wing. His editor at the Daily
Express commented:
"He reserves most of his venom for Labour leaders. Every day
he submits five or six rough outlines and I select the one which seem
least cruel." Michael Cummings died in 1997.
"But
we thought if we gave you teeth you'd never chew us up."
Michael Cummings, Daily
Chronicle (17th April 1940)
(1)
Michael Cummings, interviewed by Robert Allen in 1983.
Beaverbrook was a great advocate of cartoons, he believed very strongly
that they were far more effective than words in getting across a political
point. In fact a reader survey once showed that the cartoons were
the most popular part of
the paper. Express cartoons have always had greater impact because
they were given the necessary prominence. In fact, I can recall occasions
when a cartoon has been drawn to accompany a leading article and,
in the end, the leader has been scrapped and the cartoon retained
on its own. From time to time I used to be invited to dine with Beaverbrook
and it was usually a sign that he wanted to disagree with one of my
drawings. For example, when Krushchev had Pasternak's relatives arrested
on trumped up charges to do with alleged currency offences, Beaverbrook
took the opportunity to tease me during dinner about a critical cartoon
I had drawn. He always rather liked Krushchev and felt that it was
possible to negotiate with him. I was too right-wing for Beaverbrook's
taste. I was never prevented from drawing a cartoon which I felt to
be right. Beaverbrook and Christiansen would disagree with my views
and would tell me so, but they would never attempt to censor my work.
(2)
Robert Allen, Voice of Britain: The Inside Story of the Daily Express
(1983)
What impressed me most about Cummings was his absolute commitment
to his political views and his very personal attitude towards political
figures. Many people who are involved in journalism and politics develop
a sophisticated attitude which leads to purely theatrical struggles
with their opponents - there is much sound and fury but very little
blood. Michael Cummings is not at all like this. Some may accuse him
of being over-serious but no one can deny that his views are deeply
felt. He obviously reveres Mrs Thatcher, intensely dislikes Tony Benn
(and takes credit for being the first cartoonist to note his wild
stare), has no time at all for Ted Heath, and so on. The Right can
have fewer more convinced and devoted advocates.
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