When it comes to designing their Christmas cards, politicians have a number of options available to them.

Theresa May went down the well-trodden route of outsourcing the work to local schoolchildren. Jeremy Corbyn took the more unusual approach of sprucing up the front cover of his party’s manifesto.

And Nicola Sturgeon used an artist's drawing of a couple about to share a kiss under the mistletoe.

Other politicians won plaudits when they chose to poke fun at themselves or to make a jokey reference to a cause they care deeply about.

Falling into the first category was Ed Milband, who re-invented himself as a leather-clad biker and posed under some festive holly. For good measure, the Labour leader was clutching his infamous bacon sandwich.

The card was sent out to dozens of organisations and businesses across Doncaster and appeared to go down well, with one recipient giving Miliband “best Christmas card award” and another gushing: “I think this may be the greatest Christmas card I’ve ever received.”

For Conservatives of a certain vintage, it was the card sent out by Peter Bone that was most appealing.

Falling into the second category, the Brexiteer Tory MP depicted himself as Father Christmas on a sleigh delivering presents in Brussels. But alas Angela Merkel and Jean Claude Juncker only received bags of coal bearing the message: ‘You've been naughty’.

Even Labour MP Justin Madders could not bring himself to explicitly slam the festive offering from his Tory rival. Rather, he stated: "To be clear on my negotiating position: no card from Peter Bone is better than a bad card from Peter Bone."

Photo credit: Twitter / @smizz