MING THE MERCILESS BRANDISHES ROYAL WEED , MACE IN COALITION CAMPAIGN

A signed , presentation  photograph, not  the above,  of  the Australian  Liberal Party  founder, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, prime  minister  for nearly 19 years , is  for sale in a velvet  lined case  at  $2400  by  Douglas  Stewart  Fine  Books , Melbourne.

It  was  presented  to  the Labour  British  Prime Minister, Harold  Wilson , probably during the  time  Menzies was  Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle  , from  l965 to l978 , having been appointed to the post by Queen Elizabeth ll, a  position  he  took over  after  the death of  Winston  Churchill .

Menzies's nickname , Ming, was due to the Scottish pronunciation of  his name,  Ming-ees. A bright  newspaper columnist  turned it  into Ming the Merciless , after  the Emperor  in the Flash Gordon comic. 

 Naturally , an  election slogan  emerged   which  urged voters  to  Fling out Ming, but  this did  not  eventuate .  A  staunch  monarchist , Menzies once said  he  was  British to his bootstraps, was  made  a  Knight of  the  Thistle. 

The photo for sale appears to have once been in the  Harold and Mary  Wilson Collection .

Menzies  inspired   cartoonist  Les Tanner  and  artist, animator and potter  Gus  McLaren  to  make the  above  ceramic  model of  him which is in the  National  Portrait  Gallery .  

In Japan , Tanner and  McLaren  had  both contributed to the  British  Commonwealth  Occupation   Force  newspaper .

The  above illustration of hairy chested  Menzies, with a pot of  thistles and a bejewelled  sceptre for smiting Reds under the bed , as he , like Peter Dutton now , made   security  a  big issue ,  was run in  an  article in  the  Monash University  magazine , Lot's Wife,  after  his  conservative  reign . Under the editorship of  young  ALP activist  Pete Steedman , later the Member for Casey ,  the   salty magazine took  the Menzies Government to task over a range of issues -the  Vietnam War  and  censorship  some . See DISSENT,The Student Press  in l960s Australia , by  Sally  Percival  Wood, Scribe, 2017.  

(Menzies.Election. Coalition. )