O'Keefe depicts Prime Minister William Pitt as King George III's monkey - implying that he is an instrument of royal will. The caption declares he is 'an Offspring of the Devils'. This print caricatures Pitt at the height of his unpopularity. The war against France was going badly, and there were riots after a bad harvest had pushed up bread prices. Pitt had also recently introduced deeply unpopular taxes on popular items such as wine, tea, coffee and spirits