Thérèse Coffey

Official portrait

### Other Titles

Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (6th September 2022 - 25th October 2022)

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (6th September 2022 - 25th October 2022)

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (8th September 2019 - 6th September 2022)

Minister of State for Environment and Rural Opportunity (17th July 2016 - 8th September 2019)

Deputy Leader of the House of Commons (11th May 2015 - 17th July 2016)

Assistant Government Whip (15th July 2014 - 11th May 2015)

Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal (6th May 2010 - present)

## Personal Information

### Education

St Edward's College
University of Oxford
University College London

**Thérèse Anne Coffey** (born 18 November 1971) is a British politician who has been Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 6 September 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2019 to 2022. Coffey has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal since 2010.

Coffey served under Prime Minister Theresa May as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2016 to 2019, before serving under Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a Minister of State at the same department from July to September 2019. After Amber Rudd resigned from Johnson's Cabinet, Coffey was appointed to the post of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in September 2019. After Johnson resigned in 2022, Coffey supported Liz Truss’ bid to become Conservative leader. Following Truss' appointment as Prime Minister, she appointed Coffey as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Deputy Prime Minister. Coffey is the first woman to serve as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

## Early life and career

Coffey was born on 18 November 1971 in Billinge, Lancashire; she grew up in Liverpool. She attended St Mary's College, Crosby, and St Edward's College, Liverpool.

She attended Somerville College, Oxford, where she was involved with the Oxford Union. She then attended University College London, where she was awarded a PhD in chemistry in 1998. After graduating Coffey worked in a number of roles for Mars, Incorporated, including as finance director for Mars Drinks UK, then worked for the BBC as a finance manager in the Property division.

Coffey stood as Conservative Party candidate for Wrexham at the 2005 general election. She came third with 6,079 votes (20% of the vote).

In the European Parliament elections in June 2004, Coffey stood for election to the European Parliament for South East England. The Conservative Party won 35.2% of the vote, giving it four seats, but Coffey was seventh on the list in this proportional representation system, meaning that she was not elected.

In 2009, at the next European elections, Coffey was living in Andover, Hampshire; she missed out by one place on being elected to the European Parliament for South East England. The Conservative Party won 34.79% of the vote, giving it four seats, but she was fifth on the party list.

## Parliamentary career

At the 2010 general election, Coffey was elected for Suffolk Coastal, becoming the constituency's first female MP. Coffey received 25,475 votes (46.4% of the vote), an increase of 1.8% on John Gummer's 2005 campaign. She is a supporter of the Free Enterprise Group.

On 6 July 2011, Coffey defended Rebekah Brooks over the *News of the World*'s involvement in the news media phone hacking scandal. She said a "witch hunt" was developing against Brooks, and that simply to say Brooks was editor of the newspaper at the time was not enough evidence against her. Coffey became a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry into the hacking scandal in 2012. In that committee, she declined to support any motions critical of Rupert and James Murdoch. However, she later joined the majority of her party in voting for exemplary damages to be a default consequence to deter press misbehaviour.

### Frontbench career

Coffey was a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee from July 2010 to October 2012, when she was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Fallon, Minister for Business and Energy. In July 2014, she was appointed an assistant Government whip.

In 2013 she voted against the legalisation of same-sex marriage, stating: "I shall be voting against the Bill because my perspective on what marriage is really about is different from that of some other Members ... for me it is fundamentally still about family, the bedrock of society." She again voted against same-sex marriage in 2019 when Parliament considered the same question for Northern Ireland.

She was appointed Deputy Leader of the House of Commons on 11 May 2015.

In the House of Commons she sat on the Environmental Audit Committee from September 2017 to November 2019.

Coffey's decision to write a paper for the Free Enterprise Group recommending pensioners should pay National Insurance contributions provoked criticism among some older constituents, who claimed that in an already tough economic environment, it was wrong to tax pensioners further. Coffey said that she had "no regrets writing about National Insurance" and that it was "a policy proposal – it is by no means, at this stage, anymore than that."

Coffey also faced criticism from some Suffolk residents over her support for the Government's proposal to sell off forestry and woodland in public ownership, in 2011. Protestors argued that "experience shows us that when private landowners come in they close car parks and make access as difficult as possible." The proposal was later dropped by the Government.

In October 2016, she was criticised by the then Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron for accepting hospitality worth £890 from Ladbrokes after supporting the gambling industry in Parliament as part of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee. Coffey denied that she had been "influenced in her considerations on matters of related policy by any hospitality received".[29]

In July 2016, Coffey joined the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment and Rural Opportunities, under Theresa May. When Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, Coffey was promoted to Minister of State.

#### Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Following the resignation of Amber Rudd in September 2019, Coffey joined the Cabinet as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Coffey retained her position in Johnson's February 2020 cabinet reshuffle.

In June 2020, Coffey responded to Marcus Rashford's campaign for free school meals for children during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying: "Water cannot be disconnected though" to a tweet from Rashford urging the Government to remember Britain's poorest families, and which included the sentence: "When you wake up this morning and run your shower, take a second to think about parents who have had their water turned off during lockdown." Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds criticised Coffey for her tweet. She subsequently deleted her earlier comments and asserted her help and support for Rashford.

In September 2021, Coffey was accused of miscalculating the amount of work a Universal Credit claimant would need to do in order to make up for the proposed end of the £20-a-week increase in benefits, brought in to assist people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to *BBC Breakfast*, Coffey said: "We're conscious that £20 a week is about two hours' extra work every week – we will be seeing what we can do to help people perhaps secure those extra hours, but ideally also to make sure they're also in a place to get better paid jobs, as well. "However, given Universal Credit's "taper rate" of 63%, a Universal Credit claimant sees their credit reduced by 63p for every pound they generate from work.

In December 2021, Coffey's staff were accused of drinking and eating takeaways during the lockdown period. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson denied that any rules had been broken. A few weeks later, she tweeted support for the prime minister (in regards to Partygate allegations), expressing that she thought his apology to be sincere.[37]

In June 2022, Coffey noted that as a practising Catholic, she opposed abortion but did not condemn those that have an abortion. She had previously called for mental health assessments for those seeking abortion in 2010 and also voted against extending abortion rights to people in Northern Ireland. Her views on abortion have been criticised by the Clare Murphy, CEO of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.

Coffey continued to defend Johnson in July 2022 when he was accused of overlooking MP Chris Pincher's alleged sexual misconduct when he was appointed Deputy Chief Whip. Coffey went on record to say that Johnson was "not aware" of "specific" allegations relating to Pincher. She went on to say in several interviews that she felt Johnson had dealt with the issue decisively. She was then later contradicted when Johnson's spokesman said that he was aware of some allegations relating to Pincher when the latter was appointed deputy chief whip in February 2022. Downing Street conceded that Johnson was aware of allegations that were "either resolved or did not proceed to a formal complaint" in relation to Pincher, who resigned the previous week over reports that he had drunkenly groped two men at the Carlton Club.

Coffey was campaign manager for Liz Truss in the Parliamentary stages of the 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. She remained in a campaign role in the members' vote stage of the election.

### Deputy Prime Minister and Health Secretary

Truss appointed Coffey as Deputy Prime Minister and Health and Social Care Secretary in her new government on 6 September 2022. Her appointment made her the first woman to serve as Deputy Prime Minister.