Once returned to Leeds, Kramer drew many portraits of local celebrities, visiting notables and local collectors alike. Despite moving in intellectual circles in his home city, with close friends including the art critic and writer, Herbert Read, and Michael Sadler, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds (1911-23), Kramer remained largely disinterested in and distanced from politics. This portrait represents a rare image of a political subject, apart from Kramer’s portrait of Mahatma Gandhi made in 1931, when he was specifically invited to London to draw the great man. Bevin had served as Minister for Labour and National Service in the wartime coalition government. Then, as Britain's Labour Foreign during the end of the British Mandate in Palestine in 1948, Bevin faced the challenge of overseeing the withdrawal of British forces and the subsequent transition of power. This narrative and his role may well have resonated with Kramer, given his Jewish identity and his sympathy with Zionism earlier in his life.