Ed Miliband

Dear Ed Miliband – my cruel cartoons will hurt me more than you

Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell says Labour's leader has great potential for caricature, not least because he has twice as many crazy eyes as Tony Blair
Steve Bell cartoon labour leadership candidates
Steve Bell's view of the Labour leadership candidates: Andy Burnham, David Miliband, Diane Abbott, Ed Miliband and Ed Balls. © Steve Bell 2010 Copyright Steve Bell 2010/Steve Bell

I first met Ed Miliband at a Labour party conference many years ago. He was friendly and enthusiastic about my cartoons. Both he and his brother were still backroom people, so I didn't have a clue who he was.

I recognised the Miliband name because I had been a fine art student in Leeds when his dad, Ralph, was there as professor of politics in the 1970s. Ed would then have been a baby. I have met him a few more times since and he has been friendly, and even said nice things about my strip of him with two mad eyes. The problem now is I have to come up with a way to tease him – I hope he understands it is going to hurt me more than it hurts him.

I've drawn him a few times and he has crazy, staring eyeballs. His brother David has similar eyes but nowhere near as dramatic. I once had Gordon Brown tell Ed: "Since Tony left, this government has had a mad eye deficiency, and you've not one but two."

He has huge potential for caricature. Like John Prescott and unlike Tony Blair, his face tends to betray what is on his mind. Most politicians put on a guarded expression, but his face is more open and seems to let his feelings show. He has been caught gurning a couple of times, and looked like a rabbit caught in headlights just before the result was announced.

That is great, not just for me as a cartoonist but for politics. He will be surrounded by image consultants, but the best advice is to be yourself, be real. He has enough going for him not to need to be too controlled or false. Like Clegg and even Cameron, he is still a blank canvas. We are still waiting for all three to define themselves.

So I am going to lurk in the shadows in Manchester and have a good look at him under the bright lights when all the cameras are pointing at him – and see what emerges.

• This article was amended on 27 September 2010. In the editing process, a sentence was changed so that Steve Bell seemed to be saying he had once "heard" Gordon Brown make a remark about mad eye deficiency to Ed Milliband. The correct original sentence has now been restored.