Political Egg Dance

The political Egg-Dance
By Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914), c.29 June 1867
Cartoon No.55 in The Earl of Beaconsfield K.G. Cartoon's from
PUNCH magazine

Punch's comment on Disraeli's management of the Reform Bill in the House of Commons.

In Tenniel's political cartoons, the foremost of all performers are the politicians, appearing as theatre managers, actors, fairground, circus and pantomime performers, conjurors, jugglers, magicians and musicians.

Throughout much of the second half of the century, political power alternated between Gladstone’s Liberal party and Disraeli’s Conservative party, and this is reflected in many cartoons, where the two men emerge as the most popular double-act in nineteenth-century politics.
An early example, 'The Balancing Brothers of Westminster' (28 February 1857), portrays them as acrobats to satirise a rare agreement over the Budget. Similarly, in 1867, Disraeli appears as a delicately poised ballet dancer with wrinkled tights stepping delicately around the County and Borough issues of electoral reform in 'The Political Egg-Dance' (29 June 1867).
Gladstone's dancing turn comes in 'His Favourite Part' (2 December 1871)...
"Reduced version of a section" of a thesis, by Gill Stoker in The British Theater Guide.