Claire Coutinho
Claire Coutinho | |
---|---|
![]() Coutinho in 2019 | |
Member of Parliament for East Surrey | |
Assumed office 12 December 2019 | |
Preceded by | Sam Gyimah |
Majority | 24,040 (40.3%) |
Personal details | |
Born | July 1985 (age 35)[1][failed verification] London, England |
Political party | Conservative |
Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford |
Website | clairecoutinho |
Claire Coryl Julia Coutinho[2] (born 1985)[1][3] is a British Conservative Party politician. She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Surrey since the 2019 general election. Prior to her political career, Coutinho worked for investment bank Merrill Lynch, accounting firm KPMG, and as a special adviser in HM Treasury.
Early life
Coutinho was born in 1985 in London, England. Her parents emigrated from India in the late 1970s and are of Goan Christian descent. Her father Winston is a retired anaesthetist, and her mother Maria is a GP.[4][5][6] Coutinho was privately educated at James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich.[7] She studied mathematics and philosophy at Exeter College, Oxford.[7][8] After graduating, she worked in the emerging markets equity team as an associate at the investment bank Merrill Lynch for nearly four years.[7][9] In 2012, Coutinho left the company,[10] and co-founded a literary-themed supper club, The Novel Diner.[11][12][13] Two years later, she appeared on the cooking game show The Taste.[4]
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.[9][14] After this, she worked for accounting firm KPMG as their education lead.[7] Coutinho left the company to become a special adviser at HM Treasury. Initially she worked for Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury Julian Smith,[15] and then became an aide to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak.[16] 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.[7]
Parliamentary career
Coutinho was selected as the Conservative candidate for East Surrey on 11 November 2019.[17] It is a safe Conservative constituency having elected a member of the party since 1918.[4] She was elected as MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 24,040 (40.3%).[18] 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.[19]
She 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.[20][21]
She supported Dominic Cummings for taking a road trip to Durham amid a 2020 controversy.[22] A number of days later, an apparent protest took place as the windows of the East Surrey Conservative Association offices were daubed in black paint.[23]
Views
Coutinho supported Brexit,[7] and voted in the House of Commons against further EU integration. She also voted against introducing a proportional representation system for electing MPs.[24]
References
- ^ a b "About Claire Coutinho". ClaireCoutinho.com. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ "Members Sworn". UK Parliament. 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
- ^ Canton, Naomi (14 December 2019). "15 Indian-origin MPs in new UK Parliament". Times of India. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- ^ a b c Pandit, Shiladitya (15 December 2019). "After UK polls, Pune family gets its first MP from East Surrey". Times of India. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Maria Julia Coutinho". General Medical Council. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Winston Basil Aquino Coutinho". General Medical Council. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f 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.
- ^ "Exeter Excelling" (PDF). Exeter College, Oxford. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Huckle, Matt (22 October 2012). "Escape Artist". Square Mile. p. 30. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "The Novel Diner Limited". Companies House. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Save 7 December for the Novel Diner's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-themed Supperclub". Litro. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ Cooper, Keith (8 January 2016). "Coaching for councils". Inside Housing. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Annual Report on Special Advisers, 2018" (PDF). UK Parliament. p. 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Annual Report on Special Advisers 2019" (PDF). UK Parliament. p. 13. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Surrey East". Election 2019. BBC News. 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "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.
- ^ @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.
- ^ Blanchard, Jack (17 February 2020). "Politico London Playbook: Baptism of fire — A touch of Frost — Super-forecasters". Politico Europe. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
- ^ Pengelly, Emma (26 May 2020). "Surrey MPs face backlash for supporting Dominic Cummings after Downing Street press conference". SurreyLive. Reach. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ Pengelly, Emma (4 June 2020). "East Surrey Conservatives' office vandalised with the words 'traitors, liars, cheats'". SurreyLive. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ "Claire Coutinho's voting in Parliament". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Living people
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- UK MPs 2019–
- 21st-century British women politicians
- Parliamentary Private Secretaries to HM Treasury
- Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
- KPMG people
- Merrill (company) people
- British politicians of Indian descent
- Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies