A PREVIOUSLY unseen collection of satirical cartoons of Margaret Thatcher will be shown in Barnard Castle next month.

Milk Snatcher, Gerald Scarfe - Thatcher Drawings, covers 22 years of work by Mr Scarfe to illustrate the turbulent career of the former Prime Minister.

The drawings chart the ‘Iron Lady’s’ time as a member of the shadow cabinet, her leadership of the Conservative Party, her tenure as Prime Minister and her political decline.

The depictions are also said to act as vivid reminders of the miners’ strike, the Falklands War and the close relations Mrs Thatcher struck up with the USA.

In colourful pen and ink, Mr Scarfe has presented Thatcher as cunning, razor sharp and perversely sexual whilst also using several guises such as a shark, a chicken and an axe.

"I didn't agree with her values, but she was amazing material,” he said.

“I could turn her into anything acerbic or cutting, like a dagger or a knife, probing and vicious.”

The exhibition is also set to demonstrate the contribution Mr Scarfe has made to both political commentary and graphic art as his colour palette is linked to the introduction of colour print at The Sunday Times and he is considered to be one of the finest political cartoonists of the 21st Century.

Mr Scarfe was born in London in 1936 and after a short period studying at the Royal College of Art, he started working as a satirical cartoonist for Punch magazine and Private Eye before being appointed political cartoonist for The Sunday Times in 1967.

He has held the role for 44 years whilst also working for the New Yorker magazine and for television as he created the opening title sequences for the classic comedy series, Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister.

In 2008 he was made a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

The exhibition will be curated by former Turner Prize judge, Greville Worthington, and accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Mr Worthington said: “The exhibition Milk Snatcher is the best of Gerald Scarfe and the worst of Margaret Thatcher.”

The exhibition will be open daily from 10am to 5pm and will run from March 14 to June 7.

Tickets are covered by the normal admission price of £9.50 for adults and £8.50 for concessions.

Children go free.

For more information and tickets call 01833-690606 or visit thebowesmuseum.org.uk