Between the book deal, the speaking engagements, the lucrative consultancy work and the Middle East peace process Tony Blair has found time to sit for his first official portrait.

It was painted by Jonathan Yeo, who made headlines last year with a collage of President Bush fashioned from pornographic magazine cuttings.

Mr Blair’s portrait is more conventional but carries a powerful reminder of the former Prime Minister’s most divisive legacy, in the form of a British Legion poppy on his lapel.

“Of all the things we remember Blair for, the war in Iraq is the most controversial and this picture would be a bit empty without some reference to it,” Yeo, 37, said yesterday.

“I was desperately racking my brains for a way of telling a bit of that story without being too trite or prosaic when he came in wearing the poppy.

“It’s a nice subversion of the Labour rose, compositionally it works by counterbalancing the off-centre face and the Old Masters always said to put a splash of red in a picture. Above all it’s instantly recognisable.”

The oil on canvas work measures 75cm x 75cm (30in x 30in) and was commissioned by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn. From March it will hang on the walls of the Great Hall alongside 15 other prime ministers including Margaret Thatcher, Robert Walpole and William Pitt.

Mr Yeo, the son of the Conservative MP Tim Yeo, is recognised as one of the country’s foremost portrait painters. He first painted Mr Blair during the 2001 election campaign as part of a portrait of the three party leaders for the House of Commons. Mr Blair never sat for him then but it was the nearest any artist came to a formal portrait during his ten years in power.

The 2001 commission “was a portrait on his terms rather than mine”, Mr Yeo said, and he yearned to coax Mr Blair into his studio to attempt something “more dramatic”. He got his man for one day last November and was disappointed to find him in rude health.

“Six years on, the ideal for me would have been for him to have looked 15 years older. It would have made for a great contrast. Instead, I was impressed by how energetic and healthy he looked compared to what I had seen on TV a year ago. More sleep, some sunshine and the sight of your successor not doing terribly well probably do put a spring in your step.

“In 2001 he was bouncy and optimistic. Now he’s older, he has less hair and he is more reflective. But he’s also a performer, up for doing whatever it is that you want.”

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