25 Facts About Claire Coutinho

Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho 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.

Claire Coutinho has been described as a close ally of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and an ardent supporter of Brexit.

Claire Coutinho 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.

Claire Coutinho left KPMG to become a special adviser at HM Treasury; initially working for Julian Smith, she became an aide to Sunak.

Claire Coutinho joined the frontbench as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People in September 2022 under Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Claire Coutinho was promoted to the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in August 2023.

Claire Coutinho 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.

Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho was born on 8 July 1985 in London.

Claire Coutinho's parents emigrated from India in the late 1970s and are of Goan Catholic descent.

Claire Coutinho's late father Winston was an anaesthetist, and her mother Maria is a general practitioner.

Claire Coutinho worked at Iain Duncan Smith's centre-right think tank Centre for Social Justice for two years; she focussed on financial inclusion, education, and regeneration policy.

Claire Coutinho worked for accounting firm KPMG as a corporate responsibility manager.

Claire Coutinho left the company to become a special adviser at HM Treasury.

Claire Coutinho has commented that she left KPMG to join the government as a special adviser so that she could help deliver Brexit "from the inside", having supported the Leave vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum.

Claire Coutinho was selected as the Conservative candidate for East Surrey on 8 November 2019 after the 2019 United Kingdom general election was announced at the end of October.

Claire Coutinho joined the advisory board of the centre-right think tank Onward in February 2020.

Claire Coutinho was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rishi Sunak in March 2020, Claire Coutinho was a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Policy Exchange in 2021.

Claire Coutinho resigned from her position as PPS on 6 July 2022 in protest at Prime Minister Johnson's leadership following the Chris Pincher scandal, and endorsed Sunak in the following Conservative Party leadership election.

Claire Coutinho served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People between September and October 2022 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing between October 2022 and August 2023.

In May 2023, Claire Coutinho stated to the Education Select Committee that there were no targets.

On 31 August 2023, Claire Coutinho was appointed as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, replacing Grant Shapps; she was the first of the MPs elected in 2019 to join the Cabinet, and at 38 was the youngest member.

Heather Stewart of The Guardian remarked that while Claire Coutinho appeared to show a genuine interest in environmental issues, as evidenced by her membership of the Conservative Environment Network before becoming a minister, Sunak's position seemed to be to seek to gain votes by backtracking on the party's net zero commitments.

Claire Coutinho countered that the UK was the first major economy to reduce its emissions by half since 1990, and that she had made changes to the tax system to encourage investment in the energy sector.

Claire Coutinho added that the government would be "sensible and pragmatic" in its plans for net zero, and avoid "heap[ing] costs on families".

Claire Coutinho has been characterised as an ardent Brexit supporter, and as a factional ally of Sunak.