Born in Leeds. A lifelong member of the Yorkshire mining community, Scargill became President of the National Union of Mineworkers, in 1982, and a member of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress. He is remembered for his strong defence of British coal mines in an era of decline and closure. This brought him into conflict with Margaret Thatcher's government, and led to the Miners' Strike of 1984–1985. Further conflict ensued when British Coal announced the closure of deep-mine collieries in 1992. He appeared ten times on the cover of Private Eye between 1982 and 1990. Scargill resigned from the Labour Party in 1996 to found the Socialist Labour Party. He retired from public life in 2002.
The portrait of Scargill was painted at the height of the miners' strike and Bowyer, who had spent two years working in the mines during the War, had a particular sympathy with the cause.