Who is new Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho, from Sunak's pal to TV cooking show

31 August 2023 , 12:58

685     0

Claire Coutinho was promoted to Energy Secretary after Grant Shapps was moved to Defence Secretary (Image: PA)

Rishi Sunak's mini-reshuffle brought a flurry of activity to Westminster this morning after a quiet summer recess. Ahead of MPs returning to Parliament next week, the King has approved the appointment of Grant Shapps as Defence Secretary after Ben Wallace formally resigned from the role.

It left his role as Energy and Net Zero Secretary unfilled for Mr Sunak to slip his long-term ally Claire Coutinho into. It is a huge promotion for the less well-known MP, who is a Sunak loyalist, and means she becomes the first member of the 2019 intake of Tory MPs to join the Cabinet.

At 38, she is also now the youngest Secretary of State in Mr Sunak's cabinet - and as Energy Secretary, she is set to be in the spotlight. The role has drawn more and more focus in recent years as climate change increasingly grips the news agenda, from heatwaves to wildfire disasters. Ms Coutinho will be faced with in-fighting among Tories too, many of whom want to roll back on environmental commitments - including to achieve Net Zero by 2050 - amid fears of a backlash at the ballot box.

Here we take a look at the life and career of Claire Coutinho, the fresh face around Mr Sunak's Cabinet table.

Claire Coutinho was summoned to Downing Street this morning, where she was given a huge promotion by her ally Rishi Sunak (PA)

From banker to game show contestant

Out of touch Rishi Sunak doesn't regularly read papers or online news sites

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in mathematics and philosophy, Ms Coutinho worked for investment bank Merrill Lynch, accounting firm KPMG and as a special adviser for the Treasury. This involved working with Mr Sunak when he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

Before becoming an MP, Ms Coutinho also spent two years working at Iain Duncan Smith's centre-right think tank Centre for Social Justice and another two years working as a programme director for the industry group Housing and Finance Institute.

In 2012, Ms Coutinho left Merrill Lynch and took a turn away from finance, instead being tempted into a culinary career. She set up a literary-themed supper club, The Novel Diner, an events firm that hosted dinners themes around a well-known book, including the Great Gatsby and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The pop-up dining club held each evening at a different restaurant. Ms Coutinho ran the company with food journalist Mina Holland until it disbanded in 2015. Ms Coutinho also appeared on Channel 4's cooking game show The Taste, which featured Nigella Lawson as a judge. But as a supporter of Brexit, Ms Coutinho chose politics over food. She began working for the Government, leaving KPMG in 2017 to deliver Brexit "from the inside".

Career as an MP - from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss

Ms Coutinho was elected as the Conservative MP for East Surrey on 12 December 2019 with a majority of 24,040. The 2019 general election was a huge landslide victory for the Tories under Boris Johnson which saw a dismal defeat for then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Ms Coutinho's seat was previously held by Sam Gyimah, who lost the Tory Whip in September 2019 after siding with opposition parties to block a no-deal Brexit.

Early in 2020, Ms Coutinho was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to HM Treasury, where she worked as an aide to then-Chancellor Mr Sunak. Having worked in markets and as an adviser to the Treasury (and Mr Sunak) previously, it was a natural role for the new MP. She was also signed to the advisory board of Tory think tank Onward. Ms Coutinho resigned from her role at the Treasury during the Chris Pincher scandal, a groping row which ultimately led to the fall of Mr Johnson as PM in summer 2022.

New PM Liz Truss handed her the position of Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work. She held the role for just over a month before Ms Truss resigned as the shortest PM in history. Rishi Sunak then handed her the position of Minister for Children, which she has held since the end of last October.

Controversies

In 2020, Ms Coutinho was criticised for supporting Dominic Cummings after he drove from London to Durham during lockdown. A huge row erupted and Mr Cummings, who was then Boris Johnson's adviser, was forced to explain himself in a televised press conference.

All the scandals and sackings from Rishi Sunak's first 100 days in No10

Ms Coutinho wrote on Twitter: "I think his answers showed someone trying to make some very human decisions in difficult circumstances to protect his family and get back to work and not spread the virus." One local constituent responded: "She's my local MP and her views are certainly not representative of myself or a lot of people in my area."

Another said: "This cringeworthy, orchestrated Twitter defence of Cummings - putting his career before the welfare of the country - is unforgivable."

Family life

Born in 1985 in London, Ms Coutinho was privately educated at James Allen's Girls' School in East Dulwich. Her parents, Winston and Maria, emigrated from India in the late 1970s and worked for the NHS as doctors.

When Ms Coutinho was elected as an MP, her aunt Elizabeth told the Times of India her family were all "over the moon". "Members of my family have had many vocations all over the world, in the UK, the US and elsewhere. But a member of parliament is a first," she said.

According to Elizabeth, her niece first cheered for the Conservatives at the age of just two. “It was 1987 and Margaret Thatcher had led the Conservatives to a huge election win. And though she was a toddler, she giggled, 'We won,'" she said.

* Follow Mirror Politics on,, and.

Sophie Huskisson