Grant Shapps confirmed as new Defence Secretary
Junior education minister Claire Coutinho has been handed a major promotion thanks to a cabinet reshuffle at No.10.
Ms Coutinho is to fill Grant Shapps' shoes after he was made the new Defence Secretary this morning. Rishi Sunak made the appointment after predecessor Ben Wallace handed in his resignation.
Her new role is Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. Fellow 2019 intake MP David Johnston OBE will replace her as Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing at the Department for Education.
Ms Coutinho has seen a meteoric rise up the ranks since entering parliament as the MP for East Surrey just four years ago.
Prior to entering Parliament, she served as a political advisor to Mr Sunak at the Treasury during his stint as Chief Secretary.
READ MORE: Grant Shapps confirmed as new Defence Secretary after Wallace quits
Claire Coutinho has been handed a major promotion (Image: Getty)
Speaking on GB News ahead of her appointment, Top Tory Mark Francois said Ms Coutinho is "very bright", but warned her about the tough job facing her given Conservative divisions over Net Zero.
"I think one of the challenges she’s going to have is there’s a great deal of disquiet on the Conservative backbenches about what you might call the absolute zealotry within some elements of the Government and the civil service about Net Zero.
"So I think she’s going to have to persuade Tory backbenchers… the PM talked about taking a balanced and proportionate approach, well let’s see if CC can actually deliver on that because a lot of Tory backbenchers think ‘we are putting on a hairshirt while lots of other countries are not and are now benefitting competitively to our disadvantage'.”
Ms Coutinho has seen an extremely rapid rise up the Parliamentary ranks since her election in 2019.
She has succeeded in being promoted from a backbencher to a Secretary of State in just 1350 days. Rishi Sunak took 500 days longer to achieve the same rank.
However Ed Balls and Ed Miliband achieved the same promotions in half the time as Ms Coutinho under Gordon Brown.
Don't miss...
Ben Wallace quits as Defence Secretary as Sunak starts government reshuffle [BREAKING]
Tories slam RSPB as charity apologises for 'personal' attack on ministers [LATEST]
Harriet Harman reveals more proof Boris trial was 'disinterested in the truth' [EXCLUSIVE]
Grant Shapps was handed an equally surprise promotion this morning to defence secretary (Image: Getty)
SUBSCRIBE Invalid email
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
SUBSCRIBE Invalid email
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info
SUBSCRIBE Invalid email
Claire Coutinho's background
She was educated the private James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich prior to studying mathematics and philosophy at Oxford.
After graduating she joined the investment bank Merrill Lynch for four years, before co-founding a literary-themed supper club and appearing on the Channel 4 cooking competition The Taste, alongside Nigella Lawson.
She worked for two years at Iain Duncan Smith's think thank, the Centre for Social Justice, as well as stints at KPMG and the Housing and Finance Institute.
She backed Brexit in the 2016 referendum, saying she'd joined the Government as a Special Advisor in order to help deliver it "from the inside".
Trending
Ms Coutinho was selected to stand for the Tories in East Surrey in 2019, replacing former minister Sam Gyimah who defected to the Lib Dems during the parliament over his anti-Brexit beliefs.
She resigned as a ministerial bag carrier in July 2022 over her opposition to Boris Johnson's leadership following the Chris Pincher scandal, and was one of the first MPs to back Mr Sunak for the leadership in last summer's battle between him and Liz Truss.
Despite his support for Mr Sunak, she was appointed to her first ministerial role by Liz Truss in her 49-day Government, serving in the Department for Work and Pensions as minister for disabled people.
Related articles John Bercow fires back at Theresa May for 'abject failure' in bitter Brexit row Nigel Farage slams Sadiq Khan over ULEZ - 'I've never seen people so angry' EU row over enlargement as Charles Michel's call for new members by 2030 snubbed SNP leadership race to replace Sturgeon blew huge hole in party's finances More than 20,000 migrants cross the Channel on small boats so far this year