Thérèse Coffey

Dame Thérèse Anne Coffey (born 18 November 1971) is a British former politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from September to October 2022 under Liz Truss. She has also served as Environment Secretary, Health Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary. A member of the Conservative Party, Coffey was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Suffolk Coastal from 2010 to 2024.

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. In September 2019, after Amber Rudd resigned from Johnson's cabinet, Coffey was appointed to the post of Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

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.

Early life and career
Thérèse Coffey was born on 18 November 1971 in Billinge Hospital in Wigan, Lancashire, to Tom Coffey and Alice George and grew up in Liverpool. She went to St Mary's College, Crosby, and St Edward's College, Liverpool. Coffey then briefly attended Somerville College, Oxford in 1989 to study chemistry. However, in 1991 she was required to withdraw from the college on academic grounds, having obtained poor college examination results twice.

Coffey then attended University College London, where she obtained a BSc degree (with upper second class honours) in chemistry in 1993 and later 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. She then worked for the BBC as a property finance manager.

Political career
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, and was not elected.

Coffey stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Wrexham at the 2005 general election, coming third with 20% of the vote.

At the 2009 European Parliament elections, Coffey 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, and placing her fifth on the party list.

Parliamentary career
At the 2010 general election, Coffey was elected as MP for Suffolk Coastal with 46.4% of the vote and a majority of 9,128. 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.

Early frontbench career
After serving as a member of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee from July 2010 to October 2012, Coffey was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Fallon, Minister for Business and Energy.

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". The government later dropped the proposal in January 2013.

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".

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

In July 2014, she was appointed an assistant government whip.

At the 2015 general election, Coffey was re-elected as MP for Suffolk Coastal with an increased vote share of 51.9% and an increased majority of 18,842. After the election, she was appointed Deputy Leader of the House of Commons on 11 May 2015.

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".

Coffey voted in favour of a UK referendum on EU membership and consistently voted to proceed with the Brexit process.

At the snap 2017 general election, Coffey was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 58.1% and a decreased majority of 16,012.

In the House of Commons she sat on the Environmental Audit Committee from September 2017 to November 2019, ex-officio due to her ministerial role.



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

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.

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.

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." 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 January 2022, Coffey tweeted support for prime minister Boris Johnson in regard to Partygate allegations, stating that she considered his apology to be sincere.

In June 2022, Coffey said that, as a practising Catholic, she opposed abortion but did not condemn those who have an abortion. 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. Her views on abortion were criticised by 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.

Coffey was campaign manager for Liz Truss in the parliamentary stages of the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, and 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. In September 2022, Coffey identified four priorities for the Department of Health "A, B, C, D" – ambulances, backlog, care, and doctors and dentists.

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; 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.

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). 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. This act – of sharing an antibiotics prescription with others – was also described as being illegal.

On 18 October 2022, 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. 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. In May 2011, Coffey had accepted £1,100 in hospitality and gifts from Gallaher Group tobacco firm.

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Following Rishi Sunak's appointment as Prime Minister, Coffey was retained in Sunak's cabinet and appointed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on 25 October 2022, but lost her position as Deputy Prime Minister. She has previously held the positions of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and Minister of State for Environment and Rural Opportunity within the Department 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. 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 movement" and that support schemes were in place.

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". 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.

At the 4 July 2024 general election, Coffey lost her seat in parliament.

Personal life
Coffey is single and is described as a private person. Coffey has employed her sister Clare as a secretary in her parliamentary office since 2015.

Coffey is an avid football fan, supporting Liverpool Football Club. She signed an early day motion in 2011 set down by Labour Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram requesting a knighthood for Kenny Dalglish. She enjoys gardening, karaoke, and music.

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.

The two diacritics in "Thérèse" do not appear in the self-written Who's Who, but they are used on Coffey’s personal website and Hansard also uses them.

Honours
On 4 July 2024, Coffey was appointed a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2024 Dissolution Honours List.