Claire Coutinho | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2019 | |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | |
| Assumed office 8 July 2024 | |
| Leader | Rishi Sunak Kemi Badenoch |
| Preceded by | Ed Miliband |
| Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | |
| In office 31 August 2023 – 5 July 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Grant Shapps |
| Succeeded by | Ed Miliband |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing | |
| In office 28 October 2022 – 31 August 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Kelly Tolhurst |
| Succeeded by | David Johnston |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People, Health and Work | |
| In office 21 September 2022 – 28 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Chloe Smith |
| Succeeded by | Tom Pursglove |
| Member of Parliament for East Surrey | |
| Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Sam Gyimah |
| Majority | 7,450 (15.1%)[1] |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho 8 July 1985 London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford |
| Website | www |
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (/kəˈtiːnoʊ/;[2] born 8 July 1985) is a British Conservative Party politician and former investment banker who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since 2019. She served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero from August 2023 to July 2024, and has been the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since July 2024. She has been described as a close ally of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and as an ardent supporter of Brexit.
After graduating in mathematics and philosophy from Exeter College, Oxford, Coutinho worked as an associate at the investment bank Merrill Lynch for nearly four years, and co-founded, with food writer Mina Holland, a literary-themed events company called The Novel Diner. She also worked at the centre-right think tank Centre for Social Justice, at the industry group Housing and Finance Institute created by Natalie Elphicke, and for accounting firm KPMG as a corporate responsibility manager. She left KPMG to become a special adviser at HM Treasury; initially working for Julian Smith, she then became an aide to Sunak.
She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People from September to October 2022 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing from October 2022 to August 2023.
- ^ "Results for a UK general election on 4 July 2024: England - by majority". UK Parliament. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
- ^ "Visit to Bay Pond in East Surrey". YouTube. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2024.