Claire Coutinho is the Conservative MP for East Surrey, and was first elected at the 2019 general election.  

Coutinho rose to prominence during Rishi Sunak’s premiership as an ally of the former prime minister. She currently serves as the shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, and shadow minister for equalities on the Conservative frontbench.

In the 2024 general election, Coutinho won 17,502 votes, representing 35.6% of the vote. The Labour candidate, Thomas Bowell, received 10,052 votes (20.4%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate, Claire Malcomson, secured 8,833 votes (18.0%). Coutinho was duly elected with a majority of 7,450 votes.  

The East Surrey constituency borders Greater London and Kent and includes the towns of Caterham and Oxted, as well as many villages. It is traditionally one of the safest Conservative seats in the country and was previously represented by the former chancellor and foreign secretary, Sir Geoffrey Howe between 1974 until 1992. Coutinho’s immediate predecessor, Sam Gyimah, defected to the Liberal Democrats in September 2019.

Political Career

Coutinho currently serves as shadow secretary of state for business, innovation, science and trade. Coutinho was appointed to this role as part of the August/September 2026 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Kemi Badenoch’s second as Conservative leader.

Coutinho previously served as shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero (2024-2026) and shadow minister for equalities (2024-2026).  She was appointed to the former role in the caretaker/interim shadow cabinet created after the 2024 general election, and retained in that post by Kemi Badenoch upon her election as Conservative leader in November. Badenoch also appointed Coutinho to the equalities post.

Prior to the 2024 general election, Coutinho served in Rishi Sunak’s cabinet as secretary of state for energy security and net zero from August 2023 to July 2024. She was the first MP from the 2019 intake to be appointed to the cabinet. Aged 38, she was the youngest too.

Before this, she held junior ministerial roles as parliamentary under-secretary for children, families and wellbeing at the Department of Education between October 2022 and August 2023 and parliamentary under-secretary for disabled people at the Department of Work and Pensions from September 2022 until October 2022.

In July 2022, Coutinho resigned as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the Treasury and Rishi Sunak, who had himself resigned as chancellor, as part of the mass walkout of frontbenchers that ultimately secured Boris Johnson’s defenestration. A PPS acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister, providing a link between the senior frontbencher and backbench MPs. She had been appointed to the post in March 2020.

Coutinho said it has been a “privilege to serve” and highlighted the Treasury’s record during the Covid pandemic and response to the war in Ukraine.

She added: “I firmly believe that what we need now, as we deal with the twin challenges of war in Europe and global inflation, is a laser-like grip on reforming our public services so that they work better for our constituents and focus on charting a path to prosperity through what is an increasingly challenging global outlook.

“I think the events of recent weeks and months are preventing us from doing that… I realise there will be differing opinions about my choice today, please do write to me and I would be happy to answer your questions as best I can.”

Before becoming an MP, she served as a special adviser at the Treasury, working as an aide to Sunak when he was chief secretary.  

Coutinho delivered her maiden speech on 15 January 2020 during a debate on a green industrial revolution. In it, she referenced Peter Ainsworth, who represented her constituency from 1992 to 2010, his work as shadow secretary of state for the environment, and his time on the environmental audit committee.

Coutinho commented: “I can safely say that I stand on the shoulders of a very green giant indeed.”

Establishing her credentials as an environmentalist, Coutinho called Britain’s status as a leader in offshore wind “one of the most remarkable success stories in the UK today” and welcomed the “green measures” in the forthcoming upcoming budget.

She added: “I had the considerable pleasure of working with the chief secretary to the Treasury [Rishi Sunak], on the 2019 spending review, which saw record investment in schools, in the police and in the NHS.

“Now I am on the other side of the table, I wholeheartedly and unreservedly welcome the increased funding, particularly where those funds might land in East Surrey…

“Politicians today have a near impossible task. We live in a world of changing technology, behaviour, demographics and… environment. In this place I hope to contribute in a small way to preparing this great country for the future to come.”

Political views

Leadership elections and loyalty

Coutinho was considered a staunch Rishi Sunak ally during the latter’s tenure as prime minister. She served with Sunak as a special adviser and a PPS, before being vaulted into a cabinet-attending post, ahead of more senior colleagues, on his direction as PM.

Tory leadership 2022 (I): Coutinho supported Sunak’s candidacy in the Conservative Party’s July-September 2022 leadership election. Sunak, the former chancellor, warned against “comforting fairytales” regarding unfunded tax cuts. Although he won every round of the parliamentary ballots, securing 137 votes in the final stage, Sunak was defeated by Liz Truss in the membership vote, finishing with 60,399 votes (42.6%).

Reacting to his July 2022 campaign launch video, Coutinho described Sunak as “one of the most intelligent, decent and kind people I’ve ever worked with”.

https://x.com/clairecoutinho/status/1545435582096089090

Tory leadership 2022 (II): Coutinho supported Sunak’s candidacy in the Conservative Party’s October 2022 leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Truss after just 45 days in office, following the financial and political tailspin triggered by her “mini-budget”.

Tory leadership 2024: Coutinho supported Kemi Badenoch’s candidacy in the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election. The contest was triggered by the resignation of Rishi Sunak following the party’s defeat in the 2024 general election.

Badenoch, the then-shadow housing secretary, was seen as a leading figure on the party’s right wing. After finishing first in the final parliamentary ballot with 42 votes, she defeated Robert Jenrick in the membership vote on with 53,806 votes (56.5%). Badenoch was declared Conservative leader on 2 November.

Coutinho introduced Badenoch for her campaign launch in September and wrote a supportive op-ed. In her speech, Coutinho argued the Conservative Party needed to create “a new conservative consensus based on our values”.

https://x.com/KemiBadenoch/status/1830538657213686002

In her op-ed, published by the Telegraph, Coutinho wrote: “As Conservatives, we believe that our magic formula for success rests on free markets, free speech and confidence in our culture and history. Britain is a small country, but we’re brimming with creativity. We respect reason and tolerance. We believe in personal responsibility.

“But these fundamental values, which we have fought for as Conservatives, are under threat. A failed consensus has taken hold.”

She added: “It tells us that our economy should be more statist and centrally planned, that our freedoms should be curtailed lest they cause even minor discomfort to others and that our traditions are not worth our pride.

“It tells us our borders should be open, but when it comes to free speech our mouths should be shut…

“I believe that Kemi Badenoch is the best person to renew our party and country. Time and again, Kemi has shown that she will defend causes which are proven to be right.”

Factional identity and party tradition

Before becoming a minister, Coutinho was an active member of the backbench Conservative green caucus, the Conservative Environment Network (CEN). In 2023, CEN welcomed Coutinho’s appointment as energy secretary, commenting: “Having been a champion of environmental campaigns such as the wildbelt as a caucus member, we are looking forward to working with her again in her new role.”

However, Coutinho’s tenure as energy security and net zero secretary coincided with a period when the government backtracked on its past net zero commitments. In September 2023, Sunak set out a “new approach” that involved lifting a 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, and loosening the 2035 phaseout of gas boiler sales.

Sunak framed the rollbacks as an “honest” approach to net zero that removed “unacceptable costs” from “hard-working British people”.

Speaking at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in 2023, Coutinho condemned “net zero zealots” and mocked the Labour Party for seeming “relaxed about taxing meat”. Pressed on this latter claim, Coutinho told Sky News that it is “good to have a light moment in your speech”.

She added: “When people tell you that they want to discourage people from eating meat, what they mean is a tax…when they talk about moving at the pace that they’re moving, what they’re implying is that difficult choices will have to be made.”

https://x.com/SkyPoliticsHub/status/1708911889072152921

Brexit and Europe

Like Sunak and Badenoch, Coutinho supported the Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU). In an interview with The Sun, published November 2019, Coutinho said she planned to join the commons to help deliver Brexit “from the inside” due to her concern that it was happening too slowly.

Then a parliamentary candidate ahead of the December election, Coutinho remarked: “In 2017, while I was working at KPMG, I was asked to help deliver Brexit. Like the rest of the population, I became fed up with how slowly things were moving and decided I wanted to help get Brexit over the line from the inside.”

Coutinho described herself as a “committed Brexiteer”, adding: “The most impressive thing Boris Johnson has done is break the impasse with the EU, with the general public and in parliament, all in the face of people saying he wouldn’t be able to do it.”

Assisted dying

Coutinho voted against the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

In a statement setting out her position, Coutinho said the decision was “without a doubt” the most difficult she had taken during her tenure as an MP.

She added: “I instinctively believe my role as a parliamentarian is to provide people with the freedom and agency they seek in life, enabling choice while carefully considering the right safeguards.

“However, the bill has a number of flaws that I could not vote for today as it will not provide adequate protections for the vulnerable, disabled, or elderly.

“Allowing a proxy who has never met the patient to sign their declaration of intent, allowing medical practitioners to raise the option of assisted dying whether or not the patient has shown any appetite for it, placing the burden of proof of coercion on the highly stretched family courts profession or medical practitioners, having no requirement to inform any family members when someone has made a declaration of intent – all of these sections of the bill leave the balance of risk too high.”

Social values and conscience issues

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Coutinho voted against a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Born Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho in London on 8 July 1985, her parents emigrated from India in the late 1970s and are of Goan Catholic descent. Her late father, Winston, was an anaesthetist and her mother Maria is a general practitioner.  

She attended James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich. She studied mathematics and philosophy at Exeter College, Oxford University, graduating with a master’s degree (MA).  

After university, Coutinho worked as an associate at the investment bank Merrill Lynch for nearly four years. She subsequently worked at the Centre for Social Justice think tank, focusing on social policy including financial inclusion and education.

She was also a programme director at the Housing and Finance Institute and worked as a corporate responsibility manager for the accounting firm KPMG before becoming a special adviser in government.  

Personal Life

In July 2024, Coutinho announced her engagement to Adam Hawksbee. They have a son, Rafael Peter Hawksbee, born 17 January 2025.

Hawksbee, formerly the deputy director of Onward, a centre-right think tank currently acts as head of external affairs at Marks and Spencer.

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Claire Coutinho has spoken with pride about her Indian heritage. In her maiden speech, she said: “I would like to mention my grandmother – she raised seven children with little in terms of resources, but with a strong sense that you can achieve the impossible with hard work and determination.”

Coutinho added: “If she could see me here today, in ‘the noblest government in the world’, I am sure she would tell me to work hard, to be determined and to achieve the impossible.”

Trivia

In 2014, Coutinho was a contestant on the Channel 4 cooking competition show The Taste, judged by Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain, and Ludo Lefebvre.

She co-founded a short-lived literary-themed dining events company called The Novel Diner in 2012 with food writer Mina Holland. The company was dissolved in 2015.