Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (/kəˈtiːnoʊ/;[2] born 8 July 1985) is a British politician and former investment banker who has been Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities since 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since 2019. Coutinho previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero from August 2023 to 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.
Coutinho joined the frontbench as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People in September 2022 under Prime Minister Liz Truss. After Truss's resignation the following month, Coutinho endorsed Rishi Sunak's successful leadership bid and subsequently was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing in his ministry. She was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in August 2024. After the defeat of the Conservative Party in the 2024 general election, Coutinho became the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in Sunak's Shadow Cabinet. She was reappointed to the position after the election of Kemi Badenoch as leader in November 2024, and gained the additional position of Shadow Minister for Equalities.
- ^ "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.