Claire Coutinho

Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho[1] (born 8 July 1985)[2] is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since the 2019 general election. She has been serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing since October 2022.[3][4] She served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People from September to October 2022.[5][6][7] She is a member of the Conservative Party. Before her political career, Coutinho worked for investment bank Merrill Lynch, accounting firm KPMG and as a special adviser in HM Treasury.[8]

Claire Coutinho
MP
Official portrait, 2019
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing
Assumed office
28 October 2022
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byKelly Tolhurst
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People, Health and Work
In office
21 September 2022 – 28 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded byChloe Smith
Succeeded byTom Pursglove
Member of Parliament
for East Surrey
Assumed office
12 December 2019
Preceded bySam Gyimah
Majority24,040 (40.3%)
Personal details
Born
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho

(1985-07-08) 8 July 1985
London, England
Political partyConservative
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
Websiteclairecoutinho.com

Early life

Coutinho was born in 1985 in London. Her parents emigrated from India in the late 1970s and are of Goan Christian descent. Her father Winston was a retired anaesthetist, and her mother Maria is a GP.[9][10][11] Coutinho was privately educated at James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich.[12] She studied mathematics and philosophy at Exeter College, Oxford.[12][13] After graduating, she worked in the emerging markets equity team as an associate at the investment bank Merrill Lynch for nearly four years.[12][14] In 2012, Coutinho left the company,[15] and co-founded a literary-themed supper club, The Novel Diner.[16][17][18] Two years later, she appeared on the cooking game show The Taste.[9]

Coutinho then worked for two years at Iain Duncan Smith's centre-right think tank Centre for Social Justice. She then became a programme director for the industry group Housing and Finance Institute.[14][19] After this, she worked for accounting firm KPMG as a Corporate Responsibility Manager. Coutinho left the company to become a special adviser at HM Treasury. Initially she worked for Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Julian Smith,[20] and then became an aide to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak.[21] 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", which she had supported in the 2016 EU referendum.[12]

Parliamentary career

Coutinho was selected as the Conservative candidate for East Surrey on 11 November 2019.[22] It is a safe Conservative constituency having elected a member of the party since 1918.[9] She was elected as MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 24,040 (40.3%).[23] The seat had previously been held by former minister Sam Gyimah who had the Conservative whip withdrawn after voting for the EU Withdrawal Act, an attempt to prevent a no-deal Brexit, and had subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats.[24]

In May 2020, she was criticised by several of her local constituents for supporting Dominic Cummings (then the PM's chief advisor) in taking a controversial 260 mile trip from London to County Durham during a national lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic.[25] In June 2020, an apparent protest took place as the windows of the East Surrey Conservative Association offices were daubed in black paint. Surrey Police stated they were investigating the vandalism.[26]

Coutinho was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary at HM Treasury, and joined the advisory board of the centre-right think tank Onward in February 2020.[27][28] She resigned from her position as PPS on 6 July 2022 in protest at Prime Minister Boris Johnson's leadership following the Chris Pincher scandal.[29] Coutinho endorsed Rishi Sunak in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.[30]

References
  1. "Members Sworn". UK Parliament. 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  2. Brunskill, Ian (19 March 2020). The Times guide to the House of Commons 2019 : the definitive record of Britain's historic 2019 General Election. p. 350. ISBN 978-0-00-839258-1. OCLC 1129682574.
  3. "Claire Coutinho appointed education minister". schoolsweek.co.uk. 27 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  4. "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  5. Goodman, Paul (21 September 2022). "Non-Cabinet Ministerial appointments to date". Conservative Home. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  6. "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Disabled People) - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. "Ministerial Appointments: September 2022". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  8. "Claire Coutinho appointed education minister". feweek.co.uk. 28 October 2022. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  9. Pandit, Shiladitya (15 December 2019). "After UK polls, Pune family gets its first MP from East Surrey". Times of India. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  10. "Maria Julia Coutinho". General Medical Council. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  11. "Winston Basil Aquino Coutinho". General Medical Council. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  12. Bond, Daniel (16 December 2019). "Class of 2019: Meet the new MPs". Politics Home. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  13. "Exeter Excelling" (PDF). Exeter College, Oxford. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  14. Carter, Gus (18 December 2019). "Ones to watch: The most promising new MPs of 2019". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 9 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  15. Huckle, Matt (22 October 2012). "Escape Artist". Square Mile. p. 30. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  16. "The Novel Diner Limited". Companies House. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  17. Audley, Alice (20 March 2013). "The Novel Diner does The Bell Jar". The Upcoming. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  18. "Save 7 December for the Novel Diner's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-themed Supperclub". Litro. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  19. Cooper, Keith (8 January 2016). "Coaching for councils". Inside Housing. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  20. "Annual Report on Special Advisers, 2018" (PDF). UK Parliament. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  21. "Annual Report on Special Advisers 2019" (PDF). UK Parliament. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  22. "New Conservative Candidate chosen for East Surrey". East Surrey Conservatives. 11 November 2019. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  23. "Surrey East". Election 2019. BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  24. "East Surrey stays Tory after Brexit row MP turns Lib Dem". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  25. Pengelly, Emma (26 May 2020). "Surrey MPs face backlash for supporting Dominic Cummings after Downing Street press conference". SurreyLive. Reach. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  26. Pengelly, Emma (4 June 2020). "East Surrey Conservatives' office vandalised with the words 'traitors, liars, cheats'". SurreyLive. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  27. @ClaireCoutinho (2 March 2020). "Last week I was delighted to be appointed as a PPS to @hmtreasury, I look forward to working with the excellent team there. AND for getting the keys to our new home in East Surrey! Big week" (Tweet). Retrieved 11 March 2020 – via Twitter.
  28. Blanchard, Jack (17 February 2020). "Politico London Playbook: Baptism of fire — A touch of Frost — Super-forecasters". Politico Europe. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  29. "Three more British lawmakers resign from PM Johnson's government". Reuters. 6 July 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  30. "Who's backing who? Raab backs Rishi". The Spectator. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
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