Claire Coutinho

The Right Honourable Claire Coutinho MP
Official portrait, 2019
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 July 2024
Leader	Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Ed Miliband
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In office 31 August 2023 – 5 July 2024
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Grant Shapps
Succeeded by	Ed Miliband
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing
In office 28 October 2022 – 31 August 2023
Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Preceded by	Kelly Tolhurst
Succeeded by	David Johnston
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People, Health and Work
In office 21 September 2022 – 28 October 2022
Prime Minister	Liz Truss
Preceded by	Chloe Smith
Succeeded by	Tom Pursglove
Member of Parliament for East Surrey
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 December 2019
Preceded by	Sam Gyimah
Majority	7,450 (15.2%)
Personal details
Born	Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (1985-07-08) 8 July 1985 (age 39) London, England
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford
Website	www.clairecoutinho.com

Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho (born 8 July 1985) is a British politician and former investment banker who served as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero from August 2023 to July 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, Coutinho has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since 2019 and as the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since 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 the centre-right think tank Centre for Social Justice and 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.

She served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Disabled People from September to October 2022 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing from October 2022 to August 2023.