Therese Coffey

A cabinet minister has downplayed concerns over the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s official residency by Tory Party donors, declaring the public was not interested in “some wallpaper or sofas”. Work and pensions minister Therese Coffey also said “the right declarations will be made” in due course showing the prime minister is personally paying for the £200,000 refurbishment. Questions have […]

Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan has hit back at his critics over an interview with Thérèse Coffey – in which she appeared to turn off her webcam off after awkward questioning about the pandemic. Coffey claimed Morgan was being “insulting” when he pointed out that the minister was blaming the UK’s high coronavirus death […]

A government minister has shut down an interview after suggesting the British public’s weight and age was to blame for the coronavirus death toll in the UK. Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Thérèse Coffey denied suggestions from presenters Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid that the government was not prepared for the pandemic. “There’ll be a […]

A Cabinet minister has acknowledged issues in the vaccination rollout in her constituency, saying some individuals are receiving the “distressing and annoying” information that lower priority individuals are to receive jabs first. Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey said she has been contacted with concerns in the Suffolk Coastal area that some over-80s, and even […]

The work and pensions minister has sparked outrage after refusing to say if she could live on the £5.84-an-hour wage paid by the government’s new furlough scheme. Under the chancellor’s new proposals those earning minimum wage – currently £8.72 for those over 25, would only receive two-thirds of what they are normally paid. But asked […]

If your internal bullshit detector has been sleeping on the job lately, it’s time to wake up and smell Therese Coffey. Eyebrows were raised when the work and pensions secretary advised newly unemployed cinema workers that they had “transferrable” skills suitable for work in care homes – because scooping up a 50/50 megabucket of sweet […]

A minister has said she does not know how many people were contacted after after a technical glitch meant almost 16,000 Covid-19 cases went unreported in England. Public Health England (PHE) said a technical issue resulted in 15,841 cases between September 25 and October 2 being left out of the reported daily coronavirus cases. Senior […]