Portrait of Dawn Primarolo, Deputy Speaker, unveiled

Dawn Primarolo has served as the Member of Parliament for Bristol South since 1987. She served as Paymaster General from 1997-2007, and later served as Minister of State for Public Health, and Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families. She remains a member of the Privy Council. Following the 2010 General Election, Dawn was elected by her fellow MPs to the position of Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Dawn Primarolo is the sixth woman to represented in Contemporary Portrait collection, following Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd, Diane Abbott, Shirley Williams and Margaret Beckett.

Frank Doran MP, Chair of the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art, said:

"Dawn Primarolo has been an outstanding Member of Parliament and of the Government, and in her new role as Deputy Speaker she has advanced her reputation by the way in which she has managed debate and ensured control of the House of Commons. She has won the respect of all sides of the House, and the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art feels it is appropriate that Dawn Primarolo's contribution to the work of the House of Commons should be recorded for future generations by going on permanent display in Portcullis House."

Richard Brazier's work has been shown on many occasions at the National portrait Gallery and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. He won the BP Portrait Award in 2008. Born in 1975, he trained at Chelsea Art College and Rhode Island School of Design, graduating from the latter with honours in 1996. A consummate draughtsman, he succeeds in achieving excellent likenesses based on close observation of the sitter. His compositions are new and exciting, with colours carefully chosen and balanced to give a refreshing clarity to his paintings.