“It is just sexist to argue that Claire has been put into cabinet based on her relationship with Rishi, rather than on merit. She was one of the few Rishi supporters who was given a ministerial job under Liz Truss,” said one close ally of Coutinho.
“She is more than capable of forming her own views,” they added, arguing Coutinho’s net zero pitch — and her instinct not to “clobber” people with expensive climate policies — comes from her previous work with disadvantaged families. Coutinho also sees the political need to move carefully, after being spooked by the levels of climate skepticism she encountered on a trip to Paris just weeks into the job, the ally said. Shown polling indicating growing French ambivalence towards the green agenda, she was determined to balance ambition with realism to stave off a similar drift in the U.K.
Indeed, Westminster’s green campaigners point to a longer-term embrace of climate policy.
Coutinho was one of the first of the 2019 intake to join the Conservative Environment Network (CEN), a parliamentary caucus. “As a backbencher, she did use her platform to promote environmental issues, and … [from] all the conversations that I’ve had with her, I think she does feel strongly about the importance of handing on to the next generation a healthier environment,” said Sam Hall, CEN’s director.
But how does the drive to protect the environment stack up with loosening the U.K.’s green message or backing hundreds more oil and gas licenses in U.K. shores? “Even the Climate Change Committee acknowledges that oil and gas will be part of our energy mix when we reach net zero in 2050,” Coutinho told MPs in November. Sunak put the same view more strongly when he said the U.K. would “max out” North Sea oil drilling as part of that green transition.
Fighting an election on toning down green commitments is a tough sell, though, experts say, mainly because, while some people are unpersuaded by the green agenda, the issue isn’t likely to sway their votes.