So here's an example of a Steve Bell editorial cartoon. He's a leftwinger, in the fairly angry and vicious tradition of British satire, but this is a fairly restrained one:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2019/jun/0...

It's a comment on the pageantry around the 75th anniversary of D-Day, and directly refers to a famous cartoon from WW2, which was published on VE Day by the (also socialist) cartoonist Philip Zec:

http://www.cartooncounty.com/serendipity2/uploads/Zec2site.J...

The whole genre isn't self-referential, but it's not unusual for leader cartoons to refer to other cartoons, famous paintings, television, or other things.

Anything by Ben Garrison https://grrrgraphics.com/cartoons