Therese Coffey denies being ‘part-time’ Health Secretary

The key Truss ally insisted the NHS plan being set out on Thursday showed she was focused on her job as Health and Social Care Secretary
Newly installed Health Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Therese Coffey leaving Downing Street, London (PA)
PA Wire
David Hughes22 September 2022
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Liz Truss’ closest ally Therese Coffey has denied that her role as Deputy Prime Minister meant she was only a part-time Health Secretary.

Ms Coffey has her own office in No 10 and plays a key role at the heart of the new Prime Minister’s administration.

But she insisted the NHS plan being set out on Thursday showed she was focused on her job as Health and Social Care Secretary.

Ms Coffey has an office in Downing Street previously used by the No 10 director of communications, in a sign of how closely she is working with Ms Truss.

“What we’re doing is working together so that the Prime Minister has at hand the person who’s in charge of the money, that’s the Chancellor, but also the Chief Whip, and indeed me as Deputy Prime Minister,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

Ms Coffey said she “will be chairing things like the Home Affairs Committee and different elements like that” within Government.

“I’m here to support the Prime Minister deliver on what she set out to the Conservative Party membership and to the country during the summer.”

Good Morning Britain presenter and former Labour cabinet minister Ed Balls said he had turned down a similar dual role under Gordon Brown because he wanted to focus on his then job as children’s secretary.

Asked if it was possible to do both of her jobs properly, she told him: “I’m conscious that in two weeks we’ve already pulled together our plan for patients and we will continue to develop that.”

She added: “I don’t think it will be a case of being part-time… We don’t have fixed working hours.

“We continue to do what we do right across Government in order to make sure we function effectively as a Government and I’m looking forward to being part of that.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in