The meteoric rise of Claire Coutinho – but will she crash and burn?
The IndependentModerate Conservative MPs welcomed the promotion of Claire Coutinho to the cabinet in Rishi Sunak’s very mini-reshuffle. As one green Tory MP told me: “There’s a risk we, not Labour, are seen as on the wrong side of public opinion.” Coutinho’s meteoric rise has been even faster than Sunak’s. Inevitably, she is already being tipped as a future Tory leader and, if Sunak somehow avoids a general election defeat next year, as Britain’s first female chancellor, which would deny Rachel Reeves that prize. The Net Zero Scrutiny Group claims 58, but its noise is amplified by Tory-supporting newspapers, who like Sunak’s recent sceptical vibes on climate measures and will demand more. Some Tory insiders fear net zero will be the party’s “new Brexit”, providing it with something else to argue about now the heat has gone out of the EU issue.
History of this topic
Hopes on Claire Coutinho to speed up net zero drive
The Independent
Claire Coutinho – rising Tory star who is Sunak’s mirror image gets top job
The Independent
This is what Conservative voters want to see on the climate crisis
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