Thérèse Coffey

Thérèse Anne Coffey (born 18 November 1971) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal since 2010.

The Right Honourable
Thérèse Coffey
MP
Official portrait, 2017
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Assumed office
8 September 2019
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byAmber Rudd
Minister of State for Environment and Rural Opportunity[lower-alpha 1]
In office
17 July 2016 – 8 September 2019
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Boris Johnson
Preceded byRory Stewart
Succeeded byRebecca Pow
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
In office
11 May 2015 – 17 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byTom Brake
Succeeded byMichael Ellis
Member of Parliament
for Suffolk Coastal
Assumed office
6 May 2010
Preceded byJohn Gummer
Majority20,533 (35.2%)
Personal details
Born
Thérèse Anne Coffey

(1971-11-18) 18 November 1971[1][2]
Billinge, Lancashire, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
University College London
Websitewww.theresecoffey.co.uk
Scientific career
ThesisStructural and reactivity studies of Bis(imido) complexes of molybdenum (1998)

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 role of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in September 2019.

Early life and career

Coffey was born on 18 November 1971 in Billinge, Lancashire, and grew up in Liverpool. She attended St Mary's College, Rhos on Sea, St Edward's College, Liverpool,[1] Somerville College, Oxford,[3] and then University College London, where she was awarded a PhD in chemistry in 1998.[4][5] 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 property finance director.[6][7]

Coffey stood as Conservative Party candidate for the Wrexham constituency, in Wales, at the 2005 general election. She came third with 6,079 votes (20% of the vote).[8]

In the European Parliament elections in June 2004, Coffey stood for election to the European Parliament for the South East region of England.[9] 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 the South East region. The Conservative Party won 34.79% of the vote, giving it four seats, but she was fifth on the party list.[10]

Parliamentary career

After being selected on 6 February 2010 to stand as Conservative candidate in the Suffolk Coastal constituency, Coffey moved from Hampshire to Westleton.[11][12][13] David Miller, vice-chairman of the local Liberal Democrats, raised questions over the status of her residency there, claiming with reference to her Westleton property that "The address at which Ms Coffey currently resides is a holiday let".[14] She owns a flat and partly owns a house, both in Hampshire,[15] and has the tenancy of a house in Westleton.

At the general election on 6 May 2010 she won the Suffolk Coastal seat, becoming the constituency's first female Member of Parliament. Coffey received 25,475 votes (46.4% of the vote), an increase of 1.8% on John Gummer's 2005 campaign.[16] She is a supporter of the Free Enterprise Group.[17]

On 6 July 2011, she 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.[18] However, she later joined the majority of her party in voting for exemplary damages to be a default consequence to deter press misbehaviour.[19]

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.[20] In July 2014, she was appointed an Assistant Government Whip.[21]

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."[22] She again voted against same-sex marriage in 2019 when Parliament considered the same question for Northern Ireland.[23][24]

She was appointed Deputy Leader of the House of Commons on 11 May 2015.[25]

In the House of Commons she sits on the Environmental Audit Committee and has previously sat on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.[26]

Coffey's decision to author a paper for the Free Enterprise Group recommending pensioners should pay National Insurance 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."[27]

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."[28] The proposal was later dropped by the government.[29]

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".[30]

In January 2016, the Labour Party unsuccessfully proposed an amendment in Parliament that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation". According to Parliament's register of interests, Coffey was one of 72 Conservative MPs who voted against the amendment who personally derived an income from renting out property. The Government stated that they believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it.[31]

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
Coffey with Kitack Lim in 2017

Following the resignation of Amber Rudd in September 2019, Coffey joined the cabinet as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Upon her appointment, she was sworn as a member of the Privy Council, giving her the honorific title "The Right Honourable". Coffey retained her position in Boris Johnson's February 2020 post-Brexit cabinet reshuffle.[32][33]

In June 2020, Coffey responded to footballer Marcus Rashford's campaign for free school meals for children during the COVID-19 pandemic by replying: "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 stated her help and support for Rashford.[34][35]

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."[36] However, given Universal Credit's "taper rate" of 63%,[37] 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 DWP spokesperson denied that any rules had been broken.[38] 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.[39]

Personal life

Coffey is an avid football fan, supporting Liverpool. She signed an Early Day Motion in 2011 set down by Labour Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram requesting a knighthood for Kenny Dalglish.[40] She enjoys gardening and music.[25] Her sister Clare has worked in her parliamentary office as a secretary since 2015.[41] Coffey is Catholic.[42]

Notes
  1. Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (2016 – July 2019)

References
  1. Anon (2011). "Coffey, Dr Therese Anne". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U251482. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
  2. "Therese Coffey MP". BBC Democracy Live. BBC. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  3. "Four Somervillian MPs appointed to new roles in Cabinet reshuffle". Somerville, University of Oxford. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  4. Coffey, Therese Anne (1998). Structural and reactivity studies of Bis(imido) complexes of molybdenum. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University College London (University of London). OCLC 557362689. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.286225.
  5. "Biodata on Coffey". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012.
  6. "Q&A Session with DR Thérèse Coffey MP". London School of Economics Student Union. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  7. "Coffey, Therese". politics.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  8. "Politics section Therese Coffey: Electoral history and profile". The Guardian.
  9. "2004 Election Candidates". European Parliament Liaison Office.
  10. "European elections 2009: South East region". 26 May 2009 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  11. "Biodata on Coffey, ibid". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012.
  12. "Euro Election Candidates : West Sussex Conservatives". Archived from the original on 5 June 2009.
  13. "Therese Coffey selected for Suffolk Coastal". ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog.
  14. Dines, Graham (28 April 2010). "Tory hits out in row over her home address". Ipswich Star.
  15. "Property holdings". Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  16. "BBC News - Election 2010 - Constituency - Suffolk Coastal". news.bbc.co.uk.
  17. "Free Enterprise Group". Archived from the original on 11 November 2011.
  18. The Guardian 2 May 2012
  19. The Public Whip Retrieved 26 March 2013
  20. "Dr Thérèse Coffey MP". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  21. "Thérèse Coffey". www.conservatives.com. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  22. Hansard, Commons Debates, col 220, 5 February 2013.
  23. "Therese Coffey MP, Suffolk Coastal". TheyWorkForYou. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  24. "Liz Truss handed equalities ministerial role". 10 September 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
  25. "Thérèse Coffey MP – GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  26. "Therese Coffey". Parliament UK. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
  27. Porrit, Richard (16 July 2012). "Suffolk Coastal: MP stands by proposals to force pensioners to pay NI". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  28. Robinson, Craig. "MP faces criticism at heated forest meeting". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  29. "'No sell-off' for public forests". BBC News. 31 January 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  30. Lo, Joseph (27 October 2016). "Tory MP Criticised After Accepting Trips To Horse Racing From Ladbrokes". Buzzfeed. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
  31. "Tories vote down law requiring landlords make their homes fit for human habitation". The Independent. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  32. Proctor, Kate; Mason, Rowena (12 February 2020). "Cabinet reshuffle: expected winners and losers in Johnson's new order". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  33. "Cabinet reshuffle: Who is in Boris Johnson's new cabinet?". BBC News. 14 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  34. "Marcus Rashford slams Therese Coffey over tweet on water supply amid free school meals campaign". Politics Home. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  35. "Rashford hits back at minister in row over feeding starving children". Evening Standard. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  36. "Thérèse Coffey accused of getting universal credit figures wrong". The Guardian. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  37. "Universal Credit work allowances". GOV.UK. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  38. Smith, Mikey; Wearmouth, Rachel (11 December 2021). "DWP staff 'drank into the night' in Therese Coffey's private office during lockdown". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  39. Williams, Angus (13 January 2022). "Suffolk MP backs prime minister's 'sincere' apology over BYOB event". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  40. "Commons call for Kenny Dalglish knighthood". BBC News. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  41. "Register of Members' Financial Interests as at 2 March 2020" (PDF). parliament.uk. p. 97. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  42. Katy Balls (21 February 2020). "Women With Balls: The Thérèse Coffey Edition". The Spectator (Podcast). Retrieved 24 March 2021.
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