Martin Rowson Cartoon Among More Than 65 Works Recorded as Missing by UK Parliament
A political cartoon by Martin Rowson is among more than 65 works currently recorded as missing from the UK Parliamentary Art Collection.
The list came to wider attention following a Freedom of Information request and includes Rowson’s cartoon from the 1995 Conservative Party leadership contest. The drawing shows Prime Minister John Major attempting to lance the “boil” of the leadership challenge, watched by Michael Heseltine and Michael Portillo.
Another satirical work on the list depicts Labour politician Barbara Castle as Florence Nightingale. Five works have been located again since the beginning of this year, including a work by 19th-century caricaturist Isaac Cruikshank.
The word “missing,” however, needs some qualification. Parliament describes the Parliamentary Art Collection as a living and working collection of more than 10,000 objects, displayed across offices, corridors, meeting rooms and communal spaces. Its own records note that works can be moved from their recorded locations and later found during collection audits.
The scale of that movement became particularly clear around the 2024 general election. According to a parliamentary answer published in December 2025, more than 100 artworks were recorded as missing during multiple office moves and subsequently located. Parliament also said that none of the works currently recorded as missing had been written off as a financial loss.
Rowson, meanwhile, does not appear particularly alarmed about the fate of his drawing. Speaking to the Press Association, he pointed out that a newspaper cartoon has already fulfilled its primary purpose once it has been published.
His response also touches on an old question surrounding newspaper cartooning: what exactly is the original object? Rowson compared the physical drawing with the plates used by William Hogarth and James Gillray to produce their prints. In that sense, the drawing is part of the production process, while the published image is the version that reaches its audience and enters the public record.
The Parliamentary Art Collection is part of Parliament’s wider Heritage Collections, which contain more than 26,000 objects. Parliament says continuing audits have reduced the number of works whose locations cannot currently be confirmed.
The story was picked up by The Daily Cartoonist on August 26, drawing particular attention to the Rowson and Barbara Castle cartoons, as well as the recovered Cruikshank work.
Sources
https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2026/08/26/paper-has-priorities-right
