Tom Burkett was born Tom Peter McLaughlin in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 8 May 1976. After attending Higham Lane School, Newcastle from 1988 to 1992, he studied at North Warwickshire College of Art and Design from 1992 to 1994, and Falmouth College of Arts from 1994 to 1996, specialising in illustration.
Burkett has been political cartoonist on the Western Morning News since 1996, and cites his influences as being Matt Pritchett, Scarfe and Searle. He works both in pen and ink, and with digital technology, using the signature ‘Tom’.