Therese Coffey tried (and failed) to get a job in Labour’s Treasury department after losing her Suffolk Coastal seat in the General Election.
The former Conservative deputy prime minister took the unusual decision to apply for a role which would be under the steer of the former opposition party.
The £183,400 Treasury gig would require the successful applicant to “represent the UK and promote the UK’s interests at the EBRD board in a credible and effective manner”, and would require her to report in to chancellor Rachel Reeves.
It also requires them to work with Treasury policy teams and the Foreign Office, under the steer of David Lammy, to “devise and implement a proactive strategic agenda for UK priorities”.
Coffey, who is one of more than 200 former Conservative MPs forging a new career after Labour’s landslide election victory cost them their seats, served as the deputy PM under Liz Truss, who enjoyed just 49 days in the top seat.
Chancellor Reeves, who ultimately decides who becomes the UK director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), was highly critical of Truss’s premiership and the Conservatives who backed her.
Indeed, she has taken steps since being in office to ensure that it never happens again.
She gave the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) new powers last month to stop any future government from shunning its forecasts when making any major taxation or spending announcement.
Coffey was made a dame under Rishi Sunak’s dissolution honours list, which was announced less than an hour before polls closed at the general election.
The former MP for Suffolk Coastal lost her seat to Labour’s Jennifer Riddell-Carpenter.
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