After Johnson resigned in 2022,Coffey supported Liz Truss's bid to become Conservative leader. Following Truss's appointment as Prime Minister in September 2022,Coffey was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. After Truss resigned in October 2022,Coffey was appointed by Rishi Sunak as the Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs. She resigned in November 2023. Coffey lost her seat in Parliament in the 2024 general election.[2]
After graduating Coffey worked in a number of roles for Mars Incorporated,including as finance director for Mars Drinks UK. She then worked for the BBC as a property finance manager.[12][13]
At the 2009 European Parliament elections,Coffey missed out by one place on being elected to the European Parliament for South East England.[21][22] The Conservative Party won 34.79% of the vote,giving it four seats,and placing her fifth on the party list.[23]
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.[27][28] However,she later joined the majority of her party in voting for exemplary damages to be a default consequence to deter press misbehaviour.[29]
Coffey faced criticism in 2011 from some Suffolk residents over her support for the government's proposal to sell off forestry and woodland in public ownership. Protesters argued that "experience shows us that when private landowners come in they close car parks and make access as difficult as possible".[31] The government later dropped the proposal in January 2013.[32]
Coffey's decision to write a paper for the Free Enterprise Group recommending pensioners should pay National Insurance contributions on earnings 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".[33]
In February 2013,Coffey 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."[34] She again voted against same-sex marriage in 2019 when Parliament considered the same question for Northern Ireland.[35][36]
In October 2016,Coffey 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;she denied that she had been "influenced in her considerations on matters of related policy by any hospitality received".[41]
Coffey was again re-elected at the 2019 general election,with a decreased vote share of 56.5% and an increased majority of 20,533.[47]
In June 2020,Coffey responded to Marcus Rashford's campaign for free school meals for children during the COVID-19 pandemic,which included a tweet from Rashford urging the government to remember Britain's poorest families. One of his tweets read,in part:"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." Coffey's response to his campaign was,"Water cannot be disconnected though",which he considered dismissive.[48]
In September 2021,Coffey was accused by opponents 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."[49] However,given Universal Credit's "taper rate" of 63%,[50] a Universal Credit claimant sees their credit reduced by 63p for every pound they generate from work.
In January 2022,Coffey tweeted support for prime minister Boris Johnson in regard to Partygate allegations,stating that she considered his apology to be sincere.[51]
In June 2022,Coffey said that,as a practising Catholic,she opposed abortion but did not condemn those who have an abortion.[52] She had previously tabled a motion in 2010 calling for mental health assessments for those seeking abortion,and she also voted against extending abortion rights to people in Northern Ireland.[53] Her views on abortion were criticised by Clare Murphy,CEO of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.[53]
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.[54]
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.[55] In September 2022,Coffey identified four priorities for the Department of Health "A,B,C,D" –ambulances,backlog,care,and doctors and dentists.[56]
Asked about nurses leaving to go abroad,Coffey said:"It is their choice of course if they want to do that,but then we also have an open route for people to come into this country who are professional staff". These comments came following a minimum estimated 38,000 nurse shortage;[57] the number of nurses leaving the NHS in London had risen by 24% the past year and more than two-thirds of NHS trusts were reporting a "significant or severe impact" from staff leaving for better paid jobs in retail and hospitality.[58]
On 15 October 2022,it was reported Coffey was planning to allow people to obtain antibiotics from pharmacists without a prescription from a general practitioner,which led to criticism by medical experts due to it increasing the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).[59][60] At the same time,she received criticism for admitting to giving her own supply of antibiotics to others,which also increases the risk of AMR.[61][62][63] This act –of sharing an antibiotics prescription with others –was also described as being illegal.[61][64][65]
On 18 October 2022,[66]Dan Poulter –a medical doctor and former Conservative health minister –criticised Coffey's failure to tackle smoking and obesity,saying it leads to worse health and strains the NHS.[66][67] Since entering the House of Commons in 2010 Coffey has repeatedly voted against measures to restrict smoking,including the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces and the requirement that cigarettes be sold in plain packaging.[68] In May 2011,Coffey had accepted £1,100 in hospitality and gifts from Gallaher Group tobacco firm.[67][69]
Secretary of State for Environment,Food and Rural Affairs
On 23 February 2023,Coffey was criticised for suggesting people struggling to afford food could work for more hours to buy food,as well as suggesting that people eat turnips instead of tomatoes during a shortage of salad vegetables in the UK.[71][72] Labour MP Rachael Maskell said,"It's very shocking that the Environment Secretary shifted blame for food poverty onto people because they are on low wages and are poor." Coffey acknowledged that inflation was "really tough at the moment" and that support schemes were in place.[73]
Coffey in Downing Street,with Larry the Cat,on her way to give her resignation,13 November 2023
She resigned from the role on 13 November 2023 during a cabinet reshuffle,stating "I consider it is now the right time to step back from government".[74] In a BBC Radio interview on 15 November,Coffey cited work-related stress as a reason for her resignation,stating that she had "nearly died" after becoming ill because of the stress of being a minister five years previously.[75]
Coffey is single and is described as a private person.[7] Coffey employed her sister Clare as a secretary in her parliamentary office starting in 2015.[77]
In an interview with The Sunday Times,Coffey said she spent a month in hospital in 2018 after the stress of being a government minister led to a brain abscess.[79]
The two diacritics in "Thérèse" do not appear in the self-written Who's Who,[80] but they are used on Coffey’s personal website[81] and Hansard also uses them.[82]
↑ As Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State from 2016 to July 2019.
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↑ The Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): House of Lords official report (Great Britain Parliament, House of Lords, 2010), p. 1119: "Dr Therese Coffey"; Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): House of Commons official report (Great Britain Parliament, House of Commons, 2014), p. 249: "Dr Thérèse Coffey"
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