Claire Coutinho gets promotion as new Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary

Claire Coutinho, a close aide of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, got a big promotion as his new Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary in a mini reshuffle yesterday.

Ms Coutinho, 38, becomes the second Goan-origin minister after Home Secretary Suella Braverman in the Sunak Cabinet, and has a tough brief ahead of her as energy costs have been soaring in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The pro-Brexiter with a Master’s degree in Maths and Philosophy from Oxford University, she was elected member of Parliament for East Surrey, south-east England, in 2019.