She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for political service.

[4] Born in London, Primarolo was raised in Crawley, West Sussex, where she attended Thomas Bennett comprehensive school.

[8] Becoming involved in her local community, Primarolo belonged to various women's groups and was active in the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a founder member of Windmill Hill City Farm, and a school governor.

[9] Active in her local Labour Party, in 1985 she was elected to Avon County Council,[10] where she acted as vice chair of the Equal Opportunities Committee.

[12] She gained national attention in January 1989 by asking Margaret Thatcher at Prime Minister's Question Time if the only hope for low-paid women was "to follow her example and find themselves a wealthy husband".

At the time she was first elected, Primarolo was considered to be on the hard left, but later became a New Labour loyalist,[15] leading Andrew Roth of The Guardian to say she has "changed from 'Red Dawn' to 'Rosy Pink'";[16] As part of this change, she shifted from support for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the rise of which originally led her into politics, to voting for the renewal of Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent.

[19] In 2003, a Treasury select committee member accused her of "losing control of [her] department"[20] after it became known that Inland Revenue buildings under Primarolo's purview had been sold to tax-haven companies.

[20] This came shortly after she had "insisted ... the Child tax credit scheme was a 'success'", despite Inland Revenue staff walking out in protest against the pressure under which they were placed.

[25] In 2005, PM Tony Blair was forced to apologise after a report by the Parliamentary Ombudsman that Primarolo had failed to give Parliament accurate information.