Memes and politics in the UK from piggate to partygate and beyond Southern, Rosalynd creator author. text Electronic books. sz 2026 monographic eng remote 1 online resource (xv, 219 pages) : illustrations. In 2015, a story emerged alleging that then Prime Minister David Cameron had placed 'a private part of his anatomy' into the mouth of a dead pig's head during an initiation ceremony at the University of Oxford. Upon this allegation breaking, social media erupted with a plethora of memes and jokes about the incident, which became known as 'piggate'. Although there had been move towards jovial talk of politics on social media prior to this, the episode seemed to distil the practice and precipitate a new era of near-constant humorous online reaction to political events. Considering this context, this book will assess how memetic practices have shaped political communication and culture in the past decade-plus and the consequences thereof. It will do so from four perspectives, ranging from a focus on ordinary citizens, a group of online activists, a specific case study of a key satirist and, finally, focusing on how elites have deployed these practices. Rosalynd Southern is Senior Lecturer in Political Communication at the University of Liverpool, UK. Her work focuses on how digital and social media are used for political communication by politicians, parties and citizens. Her work has been published in Electoral Studies, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, and Social Science Computer Review. Chapter 1) Introduction -- Chapter 2) A history of memes for political communication : from incomprehensible to inescapable -- Chapter 3) How do ordinary citizens encounter and engage with memes and online political humour?- Chapter 4) The Shitpost Left. Activism via meme?- Chapter 5) The meme-ification of Satire?. - The Case of Cold War Steve -- Chapter 6) How have politicians and parties adopted online humour?- Chapter 7) Conclusions and looking to the future. Rosalynd Southern. Includes index. e-uk--- Communication in politics Great Britain History 21st century Memes Political aspects Great Britain Great Britain Politics and government 2007- Communication politique Grande-Bretagne Histoire 21e siècle Mèmes Aspect politique Grande-Bretagne Communication in politics History Memes Great Britain 2000-2099 fast JA85.2.G7 S68 2026 320.014 Memes and Politics in the UK Southern, Rosalynd Cham : Palgrave Macmillan,c2026 Political campaigning and communication 9783032120953 (electronic bk.) 3032120950 9783032120946 POD GW5XE 260408 20260511163114.4 in00005781495 eng